Economy

Asia Briefing: Meeting between leaders of Taiwan and China seems increasingly likely

A member of a pro-unification group with China’s national flag (centre) and another member with Taiwan’s national flag (right) outside the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan. The two countries have held talks in China recently. photograph: epa/ david chang

Clifford Coonan's face
Clifford Coonan
Tue Feb 18 2014 - 01:05

It may be months away, but rumours are already circulating that the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in October will be the venue for a meeting between China’s president Xi Jinping and Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou.

Last week saw the first high-level official contact across the Strait of Taiwan in 65 years, when Wang Yu-chi, the minister of Taiwan's mainland affairs council, met Zhang Zhijun, the minister of mainland China's Taiwan affairs office.

While political tensions remain high across the Strait of Taiwan, trade links have flourished.

Business exchanges resumed in the late 1980s and in the early 1990s the two sides started to engage with each other through the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (Arats) and its Taiwan counterpart the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

Taiwanese ownership
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Since Ma was elected in 2008, there have seen several cross-Strait agreements, including a deal to lift the ban on direct shipping, flights across the straits, more tourism and an Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement in 2010.

China became Taiwan’s largest trade partner more than a decade ago.

Wang appeared to pour cold water on the idea of a meeting at Apec, which had been sought by Ma, saying it “isn’t the place” for such a meeting, but there is a long time to go until the summit.

At issue is that Ma will attend only as president of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name which it has kept since the government of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan after defeat in the civil war.

This is a problem for mainland China, which does not recognise Taiwan as a separate state and there are constant negotiations to allow the two entities to appear at the same international events.

For example, Taiwan joined Apec under the name of Chinese Taipei in 1991.

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