Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel prepares to host historic meeting between mainland China’s ‘Mr Xi’ and Taiwan’s ‘Mr Ma’

Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel is busy preparing to host Saturday afternoon’s historic meeting between President Xi Jinping and his Taiwan counterpart Ma Ying-jeou.

By noon on Friday, several security gates had been installed in front of the ballroom area in the Tower Wing, which will be blocked off from 2am on Saturday.

The Shangri-La is part of the Kerry Group, the controlling shareholder of SCMP Group, publisher of the South China Morning Post.

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The ballrooms are being cleaned and re-decorated specially for the event, which will be closely watched not only on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, but also by the United States, Japan, and many other countries around the region.

The huge number of journalists converging on the hotel indicates that a major event is going to take place.

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Cameramen from various new organisations have already started to set up their equipment – all vying to claim the best vantage point.