President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday named former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) to represent him at the upcoming APEC summit in Beijing, effectively ending hopes of a historic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The idea of a Ma-Xi meeting was floated in February before a landmark trip to Nanjing, China, by Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) — the first direct and the highest-level cross-strait talks since 1949.
Yet hopes of more watershed moments were curtailed when the Presidential Office announced yesterday that it would send Siew to the summit next month. Siew is to discuss trade issues with regional leaders and promote the nation’s bid to join more regional trade blocs.
Photo: Taipei Times
Siew has attended the forum five times as Ma’s special envoy and also as minister of economic affairs.
Taiwanese officials, including Ma, had raised the prospect of a cross-strait presidential meeting on the sidelines of APEC, but China gave the idea the cold shoulder, likely fearing that such a meeting at an international forum would reinforce the idea of “two Chinas.”
Last month, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said hopes of a Ma-Xi encounter were fading after various messages from Beijing indicated that “they do not hope to arrange such a meeting at the APEC summit.”
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