Update | 'We are brothers': Xi hails closer ties with Taiwan as closed-door talks with Ma wrap up at historic Singapore summit
Xi makes first move with outstretched hand in highly symbolic 80-second handshake that pundits will pore over later as postmortems of the event are conducted online and offline
Welcome to the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the historic meeting between President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, which began at 3pm with a drawn-out handshake.
The two leaders said they would address one another simply as “Mister” before their opening remarks, in order to sidestep the complicated issue of having two Chinese leaders with similar titles, but in the end they refrained from using any such titles in front of the media.
The meeting was followed at 4.15pm by Zhang Zhijun , head of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, holding a press conference. Ma was scheduled to address reporters half an hour later.
We will be adding photos below as the situation progresses.