Taiwan Today
Date: November 8, 2015

Leaders from the two sides of Taiwan Strait met for the first time Nov. 7 in Singapore, turning

a new page in the history of Taipei-Beijing relations.

During their one-hour meeting, ROC President Ma Ying-jeou and mainland Chinese leader Xi Jinping addressed each other by “mister” and discussed ways to deepen two-way exchanges. They were each accompanied by six senior officials and other staff members.

In his opening remarks, Ma said through this meeting, the two sides affirmed to the world their determination to safeguard cross-strait peace and promote regional stability.

“As we leave behind the history of separation spanning more than six decades, we are faced with the fruitful results from replacing standoff with dialogue and confrontation with rapprochement,” he said. “Our goal is to seek sustainable peace and prosperity.”     [FULL  STORY]

Reuters
Date: Nov 8, 2015
By: Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard

Only the people of Taiwan can decide its future and will do so in elections in January, the island’s opposition leader and presidential frontrunner said on Sunday, as China’s top newspaper warned peace was at risk if it opted for independence.

A day after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou held historic talks in Singapore, Tsai Ing-wen, leader of Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the leaders’ meeting had done nothing to make Taiwan’s people feel safer.

“Only the majority public opinion on Jan. 16 can decide Taiwan’s future and cross-strait relations,” Tsai wrote, referring to ties with the mainland.

At the meeting in neutral Singapore, the first get-together of leaders of the two sides since China’s civil war ended in 1949, Xi told Ma they must not let proponents of Taiwan’s independence split them.     [FULL  STORY]

‘AMBIGUOUS’:The so-called ‘1992 consensus’ only matters if its premise is addressed in full, as without that the term is nothing more than a ‘title,’ Ko said

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 09, 2015
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the so-called “1992 consensus” is a

term that lacks substance, and that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trumpeting of the Beijing-backed “one China” principle in Singapore could indicate that he is suffering from “brain damage.”

Ko made the remarks in response to media queries while accompanying People First Party legislative candidate Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) to pray for good fortune at Keelung’s Shengan Temple.

Despite repeatedly saying that he would refrain from criticizing Ma, Ko could not contain his frustration over Ma’s performance at the Singapore summit.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/08
By: C.C. Yin and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) The key concern after the Nov. 7 meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore is whether the two sides will continue on a path of peaceful development, Taiwanese scholars said Sunday.

At a seminar on the outlook for cross-Taiwan Strait relations after the Ma-Xi meeting, Andy Chang (張五岳), director of Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of China Studies, said what really concerned Beijing during the meeting was whether bilateral relations would continue to develop peacefully after Taiwan’s presidential election in January 2016.

In addition to Ma, Beijing also took into consideration whether Taiwan’s next leader will follow the path of continuing peaceful development across the strait, Chang said.

The candidate of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), is considered a virtual lock to take power, and the party is considered far more mistrustful of China than the current Kuomintang administration.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his radical opposition to

Taiwan Independence during his historic meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou, according to comments by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office chief Zhang Zhijun at a news conference after the event.

The closed-door meeting between two delegations at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel took about one hour.

According to Zhang, Xi expressed his radical opposition to Taiwan Independence during the summit, while he also called on all Taiwanese political parties to stand by the “1992 Consensus,” which the opposition Democratic Progressive Party rejects.

In addition, Xi also mentioned well-known views about the continuation of cross-straits cooperation, but also mentioned that Mainland China and Taiwan both belonged to the same China and were not separate nations, a view diametrically opposed to those held by the DPP, which is likely to return to power after elections next January.     [FULL  STORY]

BURN, BABY, BURN:TSU Department of Youth Affairs director Chang Chao-lin was arrested over the burning of a funeral-style portrait of the president at a rally in Taipei

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 08, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

A series of protests at several locations in Taipei against the meeting between President

Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) began on Friday night and continued yesterday morning until Ma departed for Singapore at 5:30am.

At about 11pm on Friday night, dozens of people holding up banners advocating Taiwanese independence arrived in front of the Presidential Office Building, accusing Ma of being a “9 percent president” trying to “sell off Taiwan.”

“No to the opaque Ma-Xi meeting, no to concessions on Taiwan’s sovereignty,” the protesters chanted until police officers moved in to remove them, at which the chanting turned into angry yelling and shouting.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/06
By: Claudia Liu, Tai Ya-chen, Chiu Kuo-chiang and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) A presidential spokesman on Friday rejected the opposition party’s allegations that the upcoming meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (習近平) will “hurt Taiwan’s democracy,” saying it is subject to legislative and public supervision.

Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said he did not see the grounds for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s claims that the meeting in Singapore came about through a non-transparent “black box” decision-making process.

The process has been and will be subject to legislative supervision, he said, noting that Hsia Li-yan (夏立言), the head of Taiwan’s agency responsible for China policy, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), had reported on the Ma-Xi meeting to the Legislature and would do so again after the meeting.     [FULL  STORY]