America’s top diplomat for Asia said on Wednesday it was hard to see which Taiwanese political party would benefit most in January elections from a meeting this week between the country’s leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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“I believe that the peaceful development of cross-straits relations across the Taiwan strait fits the interests of both sides, and also fits the interests of the whole region and the world”, said China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, at a regular news briefing.
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. “They may be rewarding President Massachusetts for policies that he has pursued, that in general have tended to favor closer relations between Taiwan and the mainland”, Friedberg said.
Also at Wednesday’s summit, Chiang Pin-kung, former chair of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, hailed the upcoming meeting between the two leaders as a milestone for cross-Strait ties. Larry is our main news editor. Being largest trading partner of Singapore, good relation with China is very crucial for industry and business of Singapore.
Zheng Zhenqing at Beijing’s Tsinghua University Institute of Taiwan Studies said it was wrong to link the meeting directly to the election but that it did underscore a determination to get Taiwan to recognise the “one China” principle.
“It’s hard to see how this (meeting) is really going to help his party remain in power”.
China has insisted that nations can not have official relations with Taiwan and China, with the effect that Taiwan has proper diplomatic ties with just 21 UN member states. The Chinese government wishes to reunify Taiwan with China.
Young Taiwanese have become deeply suspicious of Beijing after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong past year, and an attempt to meddle in Taiwanese democracy could backfire on the Chinese.
Presidents of Taiwan and China set to meet for the first time since the Chinese civil war divided the two sides in 1949.
The KMT suffered its heaviest-ever local election defeat previous year, with its China-friendly strategy a major factor.
Nevertheless, correspondents say growing anxieties over the influence in China has caused widespread discontent in Taiwan.
“Taiwan has for quite a few time encountered no-little trouble participating in worldwide events and we frequently hear from the public about this, especially nongovernmental organizations”, Massachusetts said.
The United States long recognized Taiwan as the legitimate seat of China’s government.
In 1993, Singapore was the location of the first direct talks between China and Taiwan since 1949.
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Singapore’s then-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew acted as a channel for messages between the two sides before the talks.
