The Presidents of China and Taiwan will dine together in Singapore on Saturday in what will be the first meeting of its kind since Chairman Mao’s Communist troops forced out their nationalist enemies from the Chinese mainland in 1949.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou will meet to “exchange views on cross-Strait issues,” officials in Taipei said.
Zhang Zhijun, a Chinese official responsible for Taiwanese affairs, said the two men would “exchange views on promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.” Beijing still officially considers Taiwan a renegade province that should be reunified with the mainland.
Hardships and twists
But Zhang said the meeting represented “a breakthrough in direct exchange and communication between the two leaders, after hardships and twists since 1949.”
“The two sides across the Strait used to have drastic military conflicts and sharp political confrontation,” Zhang added, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
Gerrit van der Wees, the editor of the Taiwan CommuniquE political journal, said the announcement had come as a major surprise.
“There was no inkling on any side that this was coming,” he said.
“It is certainly now being described as a very historic moment. It’s a first,” said J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based Taiwan expert from the University of Nottingham’s China policy institute.
“But do not expect anything substantial to come out of that meeting. It is going to be a photo opp.” The announcement of the milestone meeting comes as Taiwan gears up for a presidential election on January 16.
Ma, who has overseen an unprecedented and controversial warming of ties with Beijing since taking office in 2008, will step down next year, and his ruling Nationalist party (KMT) is currently badly trailing its rivals in the polls.
To Beijing’s dismay, Tsai Ing-wen, the candidate for the pro-independence Democratic Progressive party (DPP), is widely tipped to become Taiwan’s next president. Anti-China sentiment is on the rise in Taiwan, and Tsai’s DPP reacted angrily after news of the upcoming meeting emerged on Wednesday.
“I believe people across the country, like me, felt very surprised,” Tsai said.
“A meeting of the leaders of the two sides across the strait is a great event, involving the dignity and national interests of Taiwan. But to let the people know in such a hasty and chaotic manner is damaging to Taiwan’s democracy.”
However, analysts suspect the decision to hold the historic meeting is a bold attempt to influence the outcome of January’s election.
— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015
Reaching a rapprochement
Relations between China and Taiwan, which is viewed by Beijing as a renegade province, have see-sawed for almost six decades
1949 : Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lose civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces, set up government-in-exile in Taiwan
1971 : Taiwan loses U.N. seat to China. Most countries in the world switch recognition to China
1991 : Taiwan renounces use of force to retake mainland, paving way for unofficial talks
1993 : First direct talks between the two sides take place in Singapore
1996 : China test-fires missiles in waters near Taiwan ahead of first democratic presidential elections
1999 : President Lee Teng-hui redefines bilateral ties as “special state to state.” Beijing freezes semi-official talks
2001 : Taiwan partially eases decades-old curbs on Chinese visiting the island in goodwill gesture
2005 : Beijing brings in a law that makes secession by Taiwan illegal, at the risk of military action
2008 : Ma Ying-jeou is elected Taiwan President. Beijing hosts first formal talks since dialogue was suspended in 1999
2009 : Leaders of China and Taiwan exchange direct messages for the first time
2010 : Taiwan and China sign landmark free trade pact
2013 : Cross-Strait services trade agreement is inked
2014 : Taiwanese youth stage protests. Claim pact will allow China excessive influence over Taiwanese economy
2015 : The Presidents of China and Taiwan agree to dine together in Singapore on November 7
