Taiwan-China Relations

Xi talks for Taiwanese well-being: Ma

HIT A NERVE:Ma Ying-jeou lost his cool when asked about Tsai Ing-wen’s criticism of the meeting, saying: ‘I have never understood what she is talking about’

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 06, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that his decision to meet with Chinese

President Ma Ying-jeou gestures while answering a question during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters

President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore tomorrow was not prompted by electoral factors, but by his determination to ensure the welfare and happiness of the future generations of Taiwanese.

Ma made the remarks at an international press conference held at the Presidential Office yesterday morning, responding to reporters’ questions on whether the unprecedented Ma-Xi meeting was merely part of his efforts to etch his name in the history books and if it would shackle the nation’s development.

The press conference was packed with local and foreign reporters eager to learn details of the first official meeting between the leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) 1949 retreat to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War. [FULL STORY]

Government defends Xi meeting

‘SNEAKY AND SECRETIVE’:The Presidential Office brushed off criticism by the DPP, saying when in office it also sought a meeting and that 80% of the public support it

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 05, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Saturday’s planned meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aimed at consolidating cross-strait peace and the “status quo,” and does not involve election-motivated political machinations or backroom deals, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said yesterday.

“President Ma is no longer chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and has distanced himself from party affairs. The aims of the Ma-Xi meeting are to strengthen peace and the ‘status quo’ across the Taiwan Strait, for the sake of the public interest and the future development of cross-strait ties,” Chen said.

Chen made the remarks less than a day after he confirmed reports of a planned meeting in Singapore on Saturday — only after the Chinese-language newspaper Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) broke the news in an exclusive story published late on Tuesday evening. [FULL STORY]

Opinion: History will not speak Ma’s name

Taiwan News
Editorial
Date: 2015-11-05
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Provided that there are no mishaps, President Ma Ying-jeou will get what he wants – a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore this coming Saturday. Not only will Ma make history, he is bound to drag the Kuomintang down to demise and into oblivion.

For the past seven years, Ma’s self-centeredness and egotistic ways have put the nation and its people struggling to make ends meet, whose well-being are being jeopardized as they fair the worst economic turmoil since Ma’s tenure in office. In hindsight, he’d rather forego the dignity and respect of the people by kowtowing to the Chinese.

To those familiar with international affairs and cross-strait relations, Ma’s premeditated trip to Singapore is nothing but another of his shoddy deals with Beijing, and a so-called “black-box” process conducted under the table. [FULL STORY]

President hopes cross-strait leaders’ meeting will become regular

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/05
By Jay Chen

Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Thursday that his upcoming

CNA file photo

“historic landmark” talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will mark the first step toward making such meetings a regular occurrence between the leaders of the two sides and will help further improve cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

The fact that the two leaders will address each other as “Mister” rather than by their official titles indicates “equality and dignity,” Ma told a press conference, adding that it reflects “flexibility and pragmatism” in the conduct of bilateral ties. [FULL STORY]

Tsai sees ‘manipulation’ in play

SENSITIVE TIMING:The DPP’s presidential candidate said that the public would question whether Ma was intending to influence results of the Jan. 16 elections

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 05, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, center, yesterday speaks at a meeting of the DPP’S Center Standing Committee in Taipei. Photo: Reuters

yesterday lashed out at President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), calling it a manipulation of the January elections and labelling the decisionmaking process as opaque.

“Now is a sensitive period of time as election campaigns are underway in Taiwan, and the public would definitely question whether [the president] is intending to influence the election result by holding a Ma-Xi meeting,” Tsai said.

“If the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] always chooses to politically manipulate cross-strait issues ahead of elections, it would have a negative impact on the cross-strait relationship in the long run and would not win support from the people of Taiwan,” she said. [FULL STORY]

Taiwan Affairs Office confirms Ma-Xi meeting

LINE IN THE SAND:The office said the two leaders would address each other as ‘mister, and avoid using the words ‘country’ and ‘president’ in Singapore

Taipei Times
Date: , Nov 05, 2015
By: AP, BEIJING

Confirmation of the Ma-Xi meeting from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) came hours

Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate Lai Jui-lung, center front, yesterday displays a black box as he stages a protest outside the offices of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Kaohsiung chapter. Photo: Ker Yu-hao, Taipei Times

after the Presidential Office announced it just before midnight on Tuesday.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would be meeting in their capacity as “leaders of the two sides” of the Taiwan Strait, TAO Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) was quoted as saying in a statement on the office’s Web site.

They would address each other as “mister” and attend a banquet after the meeting, the office said.

Zhang said the two leaders would “exchange views on promoting the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan Straits relations,” Xinhua news agency reported. [FULL STORY]

Taiwan and China to hold historic summit in Singapore

BBC News
November 3, 2015
Analysis: Cindy Sui, BBC News

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Singapore

Xi Jinping (left) and Ma Ying-jeou will discuss stronger ties, Taiwan says, Image copyright AFP

on Saturday – the first ever meeting between leaders of the two sides.

Both said the talks would focus on relations across the Taiwan Straits.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when the Nationalist government fled to the island after defeat by the Communists.

However, ties have improved since President Ma took office in 2008.

The Chinese government claims Taiwan as part of its territory and threatens to counter any move to outright independence by military force.

Taiwanese spokesman Chen Yi-hsin said President Ma’s aim was “to promote peace cross the Taiwan Strait and maintain status quo”. [FULL STORY]

Two sides of strait responsible for upholding sovereignty: Beijing

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/02
By: Scarlett Chai, Tai Ya-chen and Y.F. Low

Beijing, Nov. 2 (CNA) A Chinese official said Monday that the two sides of the Taiwan

CNA file photo

Strait have the responsibility and obligation to jointly uphold “the country’s” territorial sovereignty and maritime interests.

Hua Chunying (華春瑩), a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, was responding to an Oct. 31 statement by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) that Taiwan did not recognize or accept a ruling by an international arbitration panel that it could hear a case brought by the Philippines against China over disputed territory in the South China Sea.

The ministry’s statement came after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands ruled on Oct. 29 that it has jurisdiction to hear the case, in which the Philippines argues that China’s “nine-dash line” territorial claim over South China Sea waters is unlawful under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Also Monday, the MOFA reiterated Taiwan’s stance on the South China Sea. [FULL STORY]

President calls for deepening of cross-strait exchanges

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/29
By: Hsieh Chia-chen and Elaine Hou

During a meeting with participants in an annual Global Views Chinese Business Leaders

Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called Thursday for an expansion and deepening of exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.

Forum held by the Taipei-based magazine “Global Views Monthly”, Ma said that both sides of the strait can resolve disputes through peaceful means and that the most important thing is to expand and deepen bilateral exchanges, and increase mutual understanding.

Speaking on cross-strait relations, he said both sides began deepening their exchanges seven years ago when he took office.

Before Ma took office in May 2008, tension across the strait was heightened due to then-President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) pro-Taiwan independence stance.

Ma also lauded his administration’s efforts to maintain close trade relations with China, while also trying to increase trade exchanges with Southeast Asian countries to diversify the country’s trade relations.

During the meeting, the participants suggested that the two sides of the strait should increase exchanges and cooperation in the area of the cultural and creative industries.

In response, Ma said that the government will continue to identify the reason for a bottleneck in cross-strait exchanges in this area and seek to deepen bilateral exchanges. [FULL STORY]

SEF app aims to make cross-strait exchanges easier

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-29
By: Xinhua

The lives of people on either side of the Taiwan Strait has become much easier, thanks to

The app interface on a smartphone, Oct. 28. (Photo/Xinhua)

a mobile phone app that was formally released Wednesday.

The app, which has been in testing since May, provides information and documents on the logistics of doing business, studying, getting married and adopting children on the other side of the strait. It was the brainchild of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and runs on Android and iOS devices.

Tian Chunmiao, whose husband is from Taiwan, told Xinhua that when she used to call the SEF hotline it was often busy and she would just be left hanging on the telephone. “The app makes everything much more convenient, especially with paperwork. Gone are the days when I would spend hours on the telephone to the SEF to ask about the status of our legal documents,” she said.

The SEF handles cross-strait affairs and works closely with the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) on cross-strait agreements. [FULL STORY]

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