Taiwan and China to hold historic summit in Singapore

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Singapore on Saturday (November 7) - the first ever meeting between leaders of the two sides. Both said the talks would focus on relations across the Taiwan Straits.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou giving a speech in 2014

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and views the island as a breakaway province which will one day be reunited with the mainland. The Chinese government threatens to use military force against Taiwan if it ever attempts to gain outright independence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

While President Ma's aim was "to promote peace cross the Taiwan Strait and maintain status quo", ties with China have improved under President Ma, whose Kuomintang (KMT) party is seen as pro-Beijing.

1st National Congress of Kuomintang of China

Since the 1970s, China has insisted that countries cannot have official relations with both China and Taiwan, with the result that Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with only 21 UN member states. Taiwan also has no seat at the UN, having lost it to China in 1971. Repeated attempts to regain representation at the UN have been blocked.

Jici Beach in Taiwan

This meeting will mark a significant break with the long-established diplomatic stance. Contact of any kind between the two sides has been extremely limited and China has resisted anything that might be seen to be giving Taiwan equal status.

Flight CI581, the first direct flight between Taipei and Beijing, and also the first direct flight between China and Taiwan: January 29, 2005

The two leaders are expected to handle the meeting in a delicate manner. Mr. Ma's office has emphasised no agreements will be signed and no joint statement will be issued. In a sign of how politically sensitive the meeting is, the leaders will address each other as Mr. Xi and Mr. Ma, rather than president.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)