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Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou summit
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President Xi Jinping (right) and Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who will meet in Singapore on Saturday. Photos: Reuters

From civil war to civil greetings: Why President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou is so significant

President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou will hold a meeting in Singapore on Saturday to discuss cross-strait issues -  the first such meeting of their leaders since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949.

The state-run news agency Xinhua said the meeting would be a "pragmatic arrangement" and "in accordance with the One-China principle".

Here we take a look at the significance of their meeting.

READ MORE: Presidents of mainland China and Taiwan to have first official meeting since 1949: Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou head to Singapore

Why is it so important?

 

 

First meeting

Saturday’s meeting between President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou will be the first of its kind since 1949, when the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party, was forced to flee the mainland to the island of Taiwan after it was defeated in a civil war.

Relations between Taiwan and the mainland were frozen until late 1980s. No peace treaty has ever been signed to formally end the civil war. Taiwan’s Central News Agency said Xi had invited Ma to a meeting during his trip to Singapore.

The last meeting between leaders of the two sides was in 1945 between mainland China's Communist Party leader Mao Zedong and Taiwan's KMT founder.

 

Taiwan’s presidential election

Ma’s party, the KMT is struggling ahead of the vote with analysts expecting the longtime ruling party to lose both the presidency and possibly the legislature to its opposition, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

 

Xi’s breakthrough 

The meeting will be a breakthrough in Xi’s policy to Taiwan. His predecessors were unable to bring Taiwan’s president to the table

 

Trilateral relations

The historic meeting is likely to introduce a new dynamic to the China-Taiwan-United States trilateral relations in addition to China and Taiwan’s cross-strait relations. Zhang Zhijun, head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, has called the meeting a milestone in relations that would help manage conflicts and disputes and gain “wide support from all walks of life across the Strait and the international community”.

 

Ma’s legacy 

The meeting will be part of Ma’s legacy when he leaves office at the end of his second term as president in May. He resigned as KMT chief in December with Eric Chu then elected as the party’s chairman. The meeting will draw an ending to Ma’s legacy as he always wanted to have such a meeting with the Chinese leader.

READ MORE: President Xi Jinping to meet Taiwan’s president ‘because Beijing needs Taipei’s help in territorial disputes’: analyst

Singapore’s role

The meeting will help to boost Singapore’s status in the complicated world of geopolitics following the death in March of the nation’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee played a significant role in trying to bring the people of Taiwan and China together when Singapore hosted the first public meeting in 1993 between figures from Taiwanese and mainland non-governmental organisations since 1949.

At the meeting, Koo Chen-fu, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation met Wang Daohan, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.

READ MORE: Strait talk: 'Beijing needs Taipei’s help', says analyst on historic Taiwan-China presidents' pow-wow

What to look out for:

 

How they address each other

Because of Taiwan and mainland China’s complicated political history, and the “one China” policy endorsed by the Communist Party, the two leaders will simply call each other “sir”, rather than their political titles.

 

What is on the agenda 

Their 20-minute meeting would take place at Singapore’s Shangri-la Hotel, Taiwanese media said. Both sides would their own press conferences following the meeting. The leaders will also dine together later in the evening. Six senior Taiwanese government officials will also attend the meeting. It is unclear who will be accompanying Xi at the meeting.

 

What will be achieved

The two leaders would shake hands at the end of the meeting, but would not be signing any agreements, or issuing any joint statements, Taiwanese media reported. Ma’s office was quoted as saying that the purpose of Ma’s trip was to “consolidate cross-strait peace and maintain the status quo”.

Zhang said the two leaders would “exchange views about promoting the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan Straits relations”, Xinhua reported.

 

Reaction in Taiwan

The meeting will take place at a time of rising anti-mainland sentiment.

A string of past events show that younger Taiwanese residents are worried about Beijing’s influence over the island.

They do not believe Taiwan benefits from closer economic ties with its giant neighbour.

It remains to be seen whether the meeting will ease tensions or trigger a new round of anti-China feeling.

Additional reporting by Reuters

 

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