Historic meeting between China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou a stepping stone to building a bridge for future talks

The planned summit between the mainland's and Taiwan's top leaders is testament to the "maturing relationship" between Beijing and Taipei, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday, adding that he hoped it would be the first step towards regular contact between the two sides' top office-holders.

Analysts say the landmark meeting - the first of its kind since the two sides of the Taiwan Strait split in 1949 - is a practical, flexible arrangement indicative of political trust between Beijing and Taipei, but they remain sceptical if future such talks would be possible.

Ma said the talks with President Xi Jinping in Singapore tomorrow were aimed at setting a precedent for further contact between the two sides.

"In future, whoever is elected the president of the Republic of China [Taiwan] can continue to [use this platform] to advance cross-strait relations," Ma said.

"We can't predict who will be president, but what I can do is to build the bridge during my term of office so that no matter who takes office, he or she will be able to walk on the bridge and cross the river quickly."

He did not rule out the possibility of inviting mainland leaders to visit Taiwan in future.

But observers said the "bridge" between the mainland and Taiwan could be held up only by the 1992 consensus - an agreement between the Communist Party and Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang that there is only one China but each side can have its own interpretation of it.