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No problem that can’t be talked through, President Xi Jinping tells Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou in historic Beijing talks
- ‘Foreign interference’ cannot stop ‘family reunion’, Xi says, as Taiwanese ex-president makes history by meeting top leader on mainland soil
- War ‘would be unbearable for the Chinese nation’, Ma responds, as Xi urges youth on either side to ‘walk together with one heart’
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There is “no problem that cannot be talked through”, President Xi Jinping told Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing on Wednesday, in historic talks marking the first time the top mainland leadership had received a serving or former president of Taiwan.
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War “would be unbearable”, responded Ma, who is close to wrapping up an 11-day “journey of peace” on the mainland following a landmark visit just over a year ago.
The pair last met in Singapore in November 2015, when Ma was in office, in the first cross-strait summit since the two sides split in 1949 following a civil war. The highlight of that meeting was an 80-second handshake ahead of closed-door talks.
In opening remarks made in the presence of the press on Wednesday, both Xi and Ma sought to strike a conciliatory tone despite prolonged cross-strait tensions.
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President Xi Jinping meets Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou in historic talks in Beijing
President Xi Jinping meets Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou in historic talks in Beijing
Referring to his guest as “Mister Ma”, Xi said: “Compatriots on the two sides are both Chinese. There is no grudge that cannot be resolved. No problem that cannot be talked through. And there are no forces that can separate us.”
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Xi said differences in political systems could not change the fact that the two sides were one country. “Foreign interference” cannot stop the historic trend of a “family reunion”, he said, calling on both sides to seek “peaceful reunification”.
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