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Presidents of mainland China and Taiwan to have first official meeting since 1949: Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou head to Singapore
President Xi Jinping, left, will meet Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, right, this Saturday. Photo: AFP
President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou will meet in Singapore on Saturday to discuss cross-strait issues, both sides have confirmed, in the first such meeting of their leaders since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949.
Ma will fly to Singapore to meet with Xi, the Taiwanese presidential office said in a statement. The state-run news agency Xinhua separately confirmed this morning that the meeting would take place, describing the scheduled encounter as a "pragmatic arrangement" that would be "in accordance with the One-China principle".
The meeting comes at a politically sensitive time in Taiwan, with elections for a new president and legislature to be held on January 16.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement: "The mainland’s attitude on a meeting between leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Strait is positive and consistent. If there is news on this, we will issue it in a timely manner."
The purpose of Ma’s trip was to "consolidate cross-strait peace and maintain the status quo", his office said. Ma would not sign any agreements, nor issue any joint statements with China during the trip, it added.
Taiwan’s cabinet would meet with leaders of parliament and the island’s political parties today to discuss the trip.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the island’s top China policymaking body, was scheduled to hold a press conference today, while Ma was to hold a news briefing on Thursday, the presidential office said.
Ma’s pro-China Nationalist Party, known as the Kuomintang, or KMT, is trailing in opinion polls behind the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which traditionally favours independence and is loathed by the Chinese Communist Party.
Previous Chinese attempts to influence Taiwan’s elections have backfired.
The former Chinese President Jiang Zemin ordered live fire missile tests and war games in the seas around Taiwan in 1996 to try and intimidate voters not to back Lee Teng-hui, who mianland China believed was moving the island closer to formal independence.
The crisis brought the two sides to the verge of conflict and prompted the United States to sail a carrier task force through the Taiwan Strait in a warning to Beijing.
Lee won the election by a landslide.
Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan and formed a government on the island in 1949 after losing the civil war on the mainland to the communists.
Ma flew to Singapore in March this year to pay his respects after the death of the city-state’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, a diplomatically sensitive visit given mainland China’s stance that Taiwan is a renegade province.
The mainland maintains a good relationship with Singapore. However, Singapore also maintains a close, informal relationship with Taiwan and the two signed a free trade pact in 2013.
The White House gave a cautious welcome to the announcement of the meeting in Singapore.
“We would certainly welcome steps that are taken on both sides of the Taiwan strait to try and reduce tensions and improve cross-strait relations,” said spokesman Josh Earnest.
“But we will have to see what actually comes out of the meeting.”
Earnest reiterated that Washington’s “One China” policy has not changed.
The White House has long opposed any military moves toward reunification and has laid its hand on the scales to ensure a military balance between Taiwan and its giant neighbour.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse