President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday voiced thanks to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) for the roles he and his father have played in cross-strait rapprochement
Ma made the remarks in a comment he left yesterday morning below a Facebook message posted by Lee late on Saturday, hours after Ma met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) meeting at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel.
Lee had posted a photograph of Ma and himself having tea, with a caption reading: “Caught up with President Ma Ying-jeou over tea this evening. Glad his meeting here went well. Hope this will lead to greater stability and prosperity for the region.”
Photo: screen grab from Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook.
“Thank you, my old friend, Prime Minister Lee, for your hot tea, tasty pastries and warm welcome. Glad that we finally had a chance to sit down and catch up on the Ma-Xi meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel that just ended,” Ma wrote.
An equally historic Taiwan-China talk was held 22 years ago in Singapore between then-Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and then-Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Minister Wang Daohan (汪道涵) on April 19, 1993, Ma wrote.
During the Koo-Wang talks — the first high-level talks between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since 1949 — four agreements were signed and institutionalized cross-strait negotiations were established, Ma said.
“Twelve years ago on Oct. 13, 2003 at the East Asian Economic Summit sponsored by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, [Singapore’s] founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) and I agreed that ‘cross-strait development should be based on people’s interests.’’ That event was also held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore,” Ma wrote.
Singapore has played a vital role in facilitating and witnessing peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait, Ma wrote.
“Without you and your father, none of this could have happened. Sending you my heartfelt appreciation. Looking forward to seeing you again,” he wrote.
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