On 7 November 2015, Ma Ying-jeou, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan; ROC), and Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and President of the People's Republic of China (Mainland China; PRC), met in Singapore. The meeting was the first between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait (the two Chinas) since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and the first since the meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in Chongqing during the Double Tenth Agreement in August 1945. The meeting mainly focused on exchanging views on peaceful cross-strait relations, and the two sides did not sign any agreements or issue any joint statements.
The meeting took place at 3 p.m. Singapore time in the Dongling Hall and Jurong Hall of the Island Ballroom on the lobby floor of the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. The Singapore government assisted in organizing the meeting at the request of both sides. Ma Ying-jeou made a special trip to Singapore for this meeting, while Xi Jinping met with Ma Ying-jeou after concluding his state visits to Vietnam and Singapore. Both sides sent relevant officials on cross-strait relations to participate. The first half of the meeting was open to the media, while the second half was a closed-door meeting.
In order to achieve substantive equality and dignity, the two sides met as "mainland leader" and "Taiwan leader" and addressed each other as "Mister". Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, pointed out that "this is a pragmatic arrangement made in accordance with the one China principle under the circumstances that the political differences between the two sides have not yet been resolved." After the meeting, Zhang Zhijun held a press conference at 4:15 p.m., followed by Ma Ying-jeou at 4:45 p.m. at the same venue. The two sides had dinner together later that evening and returned to Beijing and Taipei respectively by special plane.
Background
After the government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan in 1949, it had no official contact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC). In the 1950s, ROC president and Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek sent journalist Cao Juren to shuttle between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to facilitate political negotiations. In October 1956, Cao Juren met with CCP chairman Mao Zedong, where Mao revealed his idea of meeting and negotiating with Chiang Kai-shek again. In early 1975, Chiang Kai-shek instructed Chen Lifu, a senior advisor to the Presidential Office, to send a message through secret channels inviting Mao to visit Taiwan. However, Chiang and Mao died in 1975 and 1976 respectively. After that, Beijing proposed a meeting between the leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait on several occasions under the names of "KMT–CCP talks" or "peace negotiations". In 1993, the Wang–Koo summit was held in Singapore and was positioned as a non-governmental and business-related meeting. In late April 1994, Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui mentioned a meeting between leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Strait during an unofficial dialogue with Japanese writer Ryōtarō Shiba. On 30 September 1994, Lee Teng-hui gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal, revealing that high-level officials from both sides of the Strait had been in contact through undisclosed channels.
On 30 January 1995, CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin delivered a speech entitled "Continue to Strive for the Completion of the Great Cause of the Reunification of the Motherland" at the Spring Festival tea party of the Taiwan Affairs Office. He expressed his welcome to "the leader of the Taiwan authorities" to visit mainland China in an appropriate capacity and his willingness to accept the invitation from Taiwan to visit Taiwan. On 8 April 1995, Lee Teng-hui put forward a formal response containing six points at the National Unification Council. The fourth point advocated that the leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait should meet naturally and equally in international occasions, and that the meeting would have a positive significance for cross-strait relations. Lee also emphasized on several occasions that the best time and place for the leaders to meet was the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting held in Osaka in 1995. Both sides agreed that the leaders should meet, but they had different views on the identity, occasion and timing of the leaders’ meeting.
In 2008, the Kuomintang returned to power and Ma Ying-jeou became president. The atmosphere across the Taiwan Strait changed, and cross-strait political consultations were restarted, leading to a series of Jiang-Chen talks. On 12 June 2008, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) held consultations in Beijing and reached a consensus on several issues related to cross-strait exchanges, including cross-strait charter flights and mainland residents traveling to Taiwan. This was known as the First Chen–Chiang summit. SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung invited ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin to visit Taiwan in the autumn 2008 to hold the Second Chen–Chiang summit. The main content was the signing of the Three Links Agreement, which fully opened the Three Links. During his 2012 presidential campaign, Ma Ying-jeou had told ETTV News in November 2011 that if reelected, he would "absolutely never meet with mainland leaders over the future four years" or discuss unification.
Proposal
In November 2012, after Xi Jinping assumed the position of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party following the 18th CCP National Congress, the idea of a Ma–Xi meeting began to take shape. The initial concept was for the leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait to meet as leaders of their ruling parties (i.e., a meeting between Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping). In February 2014, Wang Yu-chi, then Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council, met with Zhang Zhijun in Nanjing. The topics discussed included a Ma–Xi meeting. However, due to various internal and external factors and the lack of consensus between the two sides on the venue, the meeting was delayed until Ma Ying-jeou resigned as Kuomintang Chairman. It was later replaced by a Xi–Chu meeting between the newly elected Kuomintang Chairman Eric Chu and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, which occurred in 2015.
In October 2013, when Xi Jinping met with Vincent Siew, the representative of Chinese Taipei, at APEC Indonesia 2013, he pointed out that enhancing cross-strait political mutual trust and consolidating the common political foundation are the key to ensuring the peaceful development of cross-strait relations. He said the long-standing political differences between the two sides must eventually be resolved gradually, and these problems cannot be passed down from generation to generation. He added the mainland China is willing to conduct equal consultations with the Taiwan side on cross-strait political issues within the framework of one China and make reasonable arrangements. In December 2013, Ma Ying-jeou indicated that there was a possibility of holding a Ma–Xi meeting in his capacity as President of the Republic of China or Chairman of the Kuomintang and expressed his willingness to participate in the APEC meeting to be held in Beijing at the end of 2014, but the mainland side did not agree. In the end, former Vice President Vincent Siew met with Xi. Chang Hsien-yao, former special deputy chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, also revealed that the two sides had planned several meetings between the leaders in 2014, such as meeting with Xi in Singapore on Ma’s return from his visit to Central and South America in July, and meeting with Xi in Kinmen on the grounds of the anniversary of the August 23 Artillery Battle. However, this was denied by Andrew Hsia, minister of the Mainland Affairs Council.
The 2015 meeting was proposed by Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun during a discussion on cross-strait affairs with Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia in Guangzhou, China in October 2015. Initially, Hsia proposed that the meeting take place during the APEC Philippines 2015 in Manila, Philippines. However, Zhang found the recommendation to be unsuitable. Later, Hsia suggested the meeting occur in Singapore, where the Wang–Koo summit was held on 27–29 April 1993, the first cross-strait negotiation after a meeting one year earlier in British Hong Kong. In early November 2015, after the news that the Ma–Xi meeting was confirmed to be held, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia revealed at a press conference that the topic was first raised by Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, after the Hsia–Zhang meeting held in Guangzhou in mid-October. Afterwards, they took it back to their superiors for instructions. Finally, after several weeks of back-and-forth consultations, the meeting was successfully finalized.
Preparation
Due to the political dispute between the two governments, officials on both sides agreed that the ROC leader and PRC leader would address each other as "mister" (先生) and that they would participate as "Leader of Taiwan" and "Leader of Mainland China" respectively. Journalists from Taiwan – accustomed to using Minguo calendar years since the founding of the Republic of China in 1912 – had to be reissued with identification sporting a date based on the Gregorian calendar system preferred in mainland China. The ROC Presidential Office stated that Ma intended for this meeting to "consolidate peace and maintain the status quo." President Ma and a group of his top advisors, including Presidential Office Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan and Deputy Secretary-General Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), National Security Council Secretary-General Kao Hua-chu and advisor Chiu Kun-shuan, MAC Minister Andrew Hsia and Deputy Minister Wu Mei-hung, attended the meeting with him. Reporters from around the world began setting up their equipment at the Shangri-La Hotel on 5 November. Hotel staff restricted media to the meeting's main venue, the Shangri-La's ballroom. Media attendance of the meeting was limited to 400 personnel due to security concerns. Guest access to the ballroom had been barred beginning from 2 a.m. local time on 7 November.
Announcement
At 10:34 p.m. on 3 November 2015, the Liberty Times exclusively revealed that Ma Ying-jeou and Xi Jinping would meet unexpectedly in Singapore on 7 November. It claimed that the meeting was secretly arranged without the consent or understanding of the Taiwanese citizens and parliament, which it said deviated from the norms of democratic countries. It also questioned, "What price will Taiwan have to pay to fulfill Ma Ying-jeou's personal wish?" Subsequently, Taiwanese media sought confirmation from the Presidential Office. More than an hour later, Presidential Office spokesperson Chen I-hsin issued a statement at 11:40 p.m. and released an audio file at midnight, confirming for the first time that the two leaders would officially meet. At 7:00 a.m. on 4 November, Taiwan Affairs Office director Zhang Zhijun also announced the meeting would occur on 7 November. Sources involved in planning the Ma–Xi meeting revealed that the Taiwanese government informed the United States of this news on the afternoon of 3 November. The original plan was to officially announce the news to the public on the afternoon of 4 November. However, when the news was informed to other Taiwanese political figures and think tank scholars who "needed to know the news in advance" on the evening of 3 November, someone immediately leaked it to the media, forcing the Presidential Office to come forward to confirm the matter in advance.
The final decision on the Ma–Xi meeting was made through Singapore's mediation and Beijing's initiative to invite the meeting, which was scheduled to be held on the afternoon of 7 November 2015 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. Singapore has always played a key role in the process of promoting cross-strait interaction. The first cross-strait working talks— the Koo-Wang talks —were held in Singapore in April 1993. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is also considered one of the key figures in facilitating the Xi–Ma meeting. The principle of Taiwan's participation in the meeting was "equality and dignity"; the meeting had no preconditions and did not involve political negotiations; no agreements were signed or joint statements were issued; the meeting was held in a third location outside of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait; it was open and transparent, respected parliamentary supervision, and had no black box operation. The Presidential Office named the special project of this visit "Project Guping", which means "consolidating peace".
The meeting
On 5 November 2015, Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the CCP, departed from Beijing to Vietnam as his first state visit to the nation at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyễn Phú Trọng and President Trương Tấn Sang. On 6 November 2015, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and Singapore, Xi Jinping’s Air China special plane arrived at Changi Airport from Vietnam at about 5:30 p.m. to begin his state visit to the island nation together with his wife Peng Liyuan.