The presidents of China and Taiwan will meet this weekend in Singapore, the two sides said yesterday, in the first such talks between the rivals since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
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The two places have been governed separately since, though a shared cultural and linguistic heritage mostly endures – with Mandarin spoken as the official language in both places.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party is leading in the polls and is fiercely anti-China. “I believe people across the country, like me, felt very surprised”, she said.
The two leaders are also expected to attend a dinner after the meeting. “But to let the people know in such a hasty and chaotic manner is damaging to Taiwan’s democracy”.
“This meeting will only hurt the Nationalists at home, as it will cause them to even more be seen as Beijing’s preferred Taiwan party”, King said.
Islanders have looked askance at Beijing’s authoritarian handling of Hong Kong, where promises of steadily increasing democracy made ahead of its 1997 return to Chinese rule have proved hollow.
That culminated in the first direct presidential election in 1996, accompanied by Chinese attempts to intimidate voters with missile firings that were ultimately counterproductive.
No agreement will be signed and no joint statement issued.
Presidents of the two sides have not met since Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communists in the 1940s, and the Nationalists rebased in Taiwan 160 kilometers (100 miles) away.
“Better cross-strait relations create better conditions for peaceful development in the entire region”, he said.
The ministry also clarified that the meeting between the Chinese and Taiwanese leaders is separate from the state visit by President Xi from Nov 6 to 7.
Massachusetts will be joined by Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Tseng Yung-chuan, Deputy Secretary-General Hsiao Hsu-tsen, National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Kao Hua-chu, NSC advisor Chiu Kun-Shuan, Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Andrew Hsia and MAC Deputy Chairwoman Wu Mei-hung. While economic and social gaps between the two were narrowing, their political differences remained wide. In what was seen as a backlash against creeping dependence on China, the KMT was trounced in local elections a year ago. While ties have warmed under Massachusetts, public sentiment has turned against closer relations as fears over Beijing’s influence grow.
Five young protesters were arrested Wednesday afternoon for throwing smoke devices and eggs near the presidential office in Taipei and political opponents gathered outside parliament earlier in the day.
“The Chinese are probably concerned that at the moment at least, the KMT is lagging far behind the opposition DPP in the polls”, said Aaron Friedberg, professor at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. A DPP victory could prompt Beijing to reassess its policies and become more hard-line in pressuring Taiwan into a political union. While the pair agreed to meet as “leaders” – not “presidents” – the event would provide a new high-water mark in a relationship that has always been at the center of tensions between China and the US.
Nothing short of a dramatic gesture, such as a strong signal that Beijing would consider allowing Taiwan to join worldwide trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Trans Pacific Partnership, would sway the election result, Mr Chen said. But in 1979, the United States established full diplomatic relations with Beijing.
Mr Lee won the election by a landslide.
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“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.
