By Ko Shu-ling
TAIPEI, (PNA/Kyodo) — Former Taiwan Vice President Vincent Siew met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in Taipei.
Siew, who will attend the APEC summit on Monday and Tuesday on behalf of President Ma Ying-jeou, discussed cross-strait relations, bilateral trade and economic integration in the region during his 30-minute meeting with Xi, council officials said at a press briefing.
Siew told Xi that both sides of the Taiwan Strait have written a new chapter in history over the past five years, according to the officials.
“The key to cross-strait peace and stability lay in mutual recognition of the ‘1992 consensus,'” Siew was quoted as saying. Under the consensus, representatives of Taiwan and China agreed in talks there is only one China but each side can interpret in their own way what that means.
Siew expressed the hope that both sides will make efforts to ensure bilateral relations continue to consolidate and develop, the officials said.
He also hopes the two sides speed up the negotiation process for pacts on commodity trade and dispute resolution and achieve the goal of establishing representative offices of their quasi-official cross-Taiwan Strait agencies on each side of the strait, they said.
Xi told Siew China is “willing to conduct negotiations on political issues with Taiwan on the basis of equality and make fair and sensible arrangements,” the officials added.
“In the long run, the political differences both sides of the Taiwan Strait have must be resolved gradually,” Xi was quoted as saying. “We cannot leave it to our children and grandchildren to take care of.”
Xi added that the heads of both agencies in charge of cross-strait relations can also meet and exchange opinions, the officials said.
Xi was referring to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Wang Yu-chi and China’s Taiwan Affairs Council Director Zhang Zhijun.
Wang and Zhang were both at the Siew-Xi meeting.
It is the first time for the head of the island’s Mainland Affairs Council to attend an APEC leaders’ summit.
Wang’s participation in the APEC event is seen by many as a harbinger of a future meeting between Ma and Xi or political talks between Taiwan and China.
Wang, however, has denied the speculation.
Taiwan media were also curious about how Zhang would address Wang should they meet.
The council officials said the two had “natural interactions” after the Siew-Xi meeting and during a brief exchange of greetings they addressed each other by their official titles.
Taiwan’s council affirmed Zhang’s move as “pragmatic” and played it up as a “milestone” in the institutionalization of cross-strait relations.
“It is not only a concrete practice of mutual non-denial of one another’s authority to govern, but also a good start of the normalization of interactions of both sides’ officials,” the council officials added.