Tsai Lien-sheng (蔡練生), secretary-general of the Chinese National Federation of Industries (工業總會), said that although there is no information about what Massachusetts and Xi will discuss in the meeting, he is sure that the event will facilitate the pace of peaceful development between Taiwan and China.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart, Massachusetts Ying-jeou, will meet Saturday in what will be the first time any leader from both countries will meet since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
The meeting arrives as Taiwan prepares for presidential elections in January, where the Kuomintang, which is seen as having a softer stance against China, is expected to lose against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), whose candidates have campaigned on having deeper commitments to Taiwanese independence. The leaders won’t sign any agreements or make joint statements, Ma’s office said. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that should be reunified with the mainland nation.
“It is a milestone in cross-straits relations as it will set a precedent for future relations”, Xu Xue, a Taiwanese affairs expert at Xiamen University’s Institute of Taiwan Studies, told the South China Morning Post regarding the announcement.
China’s state media are required to put quotation marks around all Taiwan government agencies and official titles, while Taiwan media often refer to the mainland authority as the “Chinese Communist regime”.
In a backlash against creeping dependence on China, the KMT suffered resounding defeats in local elections past year.
A few said that could backfire given increasing anti-China protests in Taiwan, especially among the young.
“The major objective of the meeting will be to consolidate cross-strait peace and maintain the status quo”, the statement quoted Mainland Affairs Council Minister Hsia Li-yan as saying.
KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu supports a continuation of Ma’s China policies.
“We’re angry that Massachusetts is going to sell out Taiwan”, said Hsu Ya-chi, spokeswoman for the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union, one of the opposition parties that suspect a few sort of secret deal between Massachusetts and Xi. In the past, Chinese leaders even vowed to incorporate Taiwan into China by the use of force if necessary.
Reports also emphasized how relations between Taiwan and China have improved since Massachusetts stepped into office, but little mention was made of the challenges and Ma’s lagging popularity.
Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index was little changed today after gaining the most in eight weeks yesterday as the meeting stoked optimism that improving cross-strait relations would boost the island’s economy.
Long a factory hub for Japanese companies, Taiwan has in recent years seen its low-priced manufacturing sector move to China, and a rapprochement could raise its competitiveness.
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In 1993, Singapore was the location of the first direct talks between China and Taiwan since 1949.
