President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he sees Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as a leader who is able to make quick decisions.
Asked about his impressions of the Chinese leader after their meeting and dinner in Singapore on Saturday, Ma told reporters on a flight back to Taiwan that “apparently neither of us is a good drinker.”
The two leaders and half a dozen officials from either side had a closed-door meeting, followed by a dinner in which liquor — kaoliang from Taiwan and maotai from China — as well as rice wine from Matsu were served.
Sitting next to each other at a round table, he and Xi talked about alcoholic drinks, Chinese zodiac signs and special produce from various regions, among other topics, Ma said.
Prior to their meeting, Ma said had learned about Xi only by reading.
Having finally met him, Ma said he found Xi capable of making decisions quickly on some issues, such as the possibility of allowing more Chinese students to come to Taiwan.
During their summit, Ma said he mentioned the hope of many Taiwanese universities that China would allow students to pursue university degrees in Taiwan.
It is difficult to gain a place to study at universities in China, while there are about 20,000 vacant places per year in Taiwan, Ma told Xi.
On hearing this, Xi instructed China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) to deal with the issue, “just like that,” Ma said.
Regarding a bilateral trade-in-goods agreement and the proposed exchange of representative offices, Xi said China would work on those issues as soon as possible, Ma told reporters.
Ma is due to step down in May next year and is likely to be replaced by the Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who has said that she would work to maintain the cross-strait “status quo,” although she does not recognize much of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “understandings” on cross-strait relations.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS