“The report went further that both men shook hands and smiled in front of a mass of journalists, Xi wearing a red tie, the colour of the Communist Party, and Massachusetts a blue one, the colour of his Nationalist Party”.
Advertisement
On Saturday, in a historic meeting, Taiwanese President Massachusetts Ying-jeou will confer directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore.
Massachusetts said he also raised the issue of the marginalisation of Taiwan’s NGOs and scholars on the worldwide stage with Xi.
“Taiwan’s voters are wary of mainland involvement in their politics, so this can probably be better read as a confirmation by Beijing of their one-China policy”, said Rana Mitter, a professor of Chinese history and politics at Oxford University. Holding a bigger protest isn’t out of the question for us because this is a very important thing for the Taiwanese people.
The divorce split families, led to decades of tension and periodic fire across the Taiwan Strait, and left a wound in the Chinese psyche that both sides have yearned to heal for decades.
Mainland China has always regarded Taiwan as a breakaway province that will need to be reunified even if force is necessary.
Both sides have said that no agreements would be signed at the meeting and they would discuss ways to cement peace.
During the closed door session, Mr Xi listened to Mr Massachusetts and said that now we are faced with a new situation, and we should bear in mind the well-being of the people and move with the times such that we can rejuvenate the Chinese nation.
They come ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections on Taiwan which the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is favourite to win, something Beijing is desperate to avoid.
The shifting political landscape in Taiwan had motivated leaders in Beijing and Taipei to arrange the meeting, Prof Shi said.
The meeting is seen by many as a breakthrough, as the two sides have become tightly linked through the launch of direct flights, trade deals and tourism in recent years.
Fang Chuan-sheng, 45, a security guard, said he opposed having Taiwan’s leader meet Mr Xi.
“We had expected President Massachusetts to talk about Taiwan’s democracy, freedom and the existence of the Republic of China”, she said, in comments carried on Taiwan television stations, referring to Taiwan’s official name.
Through their historic summit, Xi and Massachusetts demonstrated that relations are such that the top leaders from each side of the strait can meet.
Speculations were rife that Massachusetts secretly arranged the meeting with Xi in an effort to raise the moral of his party’s supporters after Kuomintang candidates were crushed in the local polls by the opposition who has been rejecting reunification with China.
Advertisement
After losing the mainland to Mao Zedong’s communists, former Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and his forces fled to the island of Taiwan, and the two have been governed separately ever since. “We will be eaten by Xi Jinping, I’m sure of that”, he said.
