Mainland authorities announced early Wednesday that Chinese President
Xi Jinping and Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou will meet in Singapore on Saturday to exchanges views on the peaceful development across the Straits. The
Xi-Ma meeting is a major breakthrough of the relations between Taiwan and the mainland. It will exert a positive influence on the island's future policy toward the mainland and set a firm foundation for way the world perceives this relationship.
Since the Wang-Koo meeting in 1993, the level of meetings between leaders from the two sides has been getting higher, but no breakthrough has formed yet, mainly because it is difficult to define their identities and titles. Taiwan has hoped to identify its leaders as "president," to which the mainland will not agree. This is not only a matter of identity, but a matter of the essence of mainland-Taiwan relations.
Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, revealed that Xi and Ma will meet as the "leaders" of both sides. This is a result of negotiation in line with the one-China principle when the political differences between the two sides have not been solved.
Xi and Ma call each other "Mister." This will be a unique phenomenon in top meetings.
Although such practical arrangement has temporarily shelved the problem, it will create a space for both sides to resolve the problem in future. The Taiwan question will generally develop into three directions - maintaining the status quo, stepping into unification, or realizing the so-called "Taiwan Independence."
It is impossible for the cross-Straits relationship to maintain exactly the "status quo." It, under influence from various forces, is changing all the time. "Taiwan independence" has been driven by only interior extreme forces. Their current running rampant is a bubble in the course of history. The counter thrusts include the mainland's increasingly powerful clout and the positive mainstream forces from Taiwan itself. The world is also anticipating closer cross-Straits ties. These forces are shaping the big picture of closer relations between both sides.
Xi's political appeal has impressed both sides of the straits and the whole world. The meeting, which has been long anticipated, has finally been realized in Xi's first-term in office. His appeal is essential for taking steps to realize great rejuvenation of Chinese nation.
We should give Ma warm applause for his willingness to move toward the meeting. With seven months left in office, the 1992 Consensus is well being upheld, and the cross-Straits cooperation is becoming prosperous. Although Ma has become somewhat controversial due to his performance on Taiwan's internal governance, still, positive factors of cross-Straits ties are highly likely to have a longer influence on Taiwan's future path than Ma's term, which will outweigh the complicated politics on the island.
The pan-green camp in Taiwan has made immediate objections to the upcoming meeting between Xi and Ma, hoping to take public opinion into their control. However, they should be aware that the historical meeting is supported by the whole world, including the US, and they are displaying jiggery-pokery from a small circle. Such extremism won't last for long in the big global trend. It will be bound to be stigmatized.
The Xi-Ma meeting is making Chinese worldwide excited. The whole of international society is also very interested in seeing the two sides taking a pragmatic step forward. Applause will break out all over the globe. It will be a victory of peace, a victory of rationality.