Transcript of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's remarks after historic meet with Xi

SINGAPORE – The leaders of Taiwan and China have wound up a brief meeting that marked the first top-level contact between the formerly bitter Cold War foes since they split amid civil war 66 years ago.

Including their historic handshake, brief opening remarks before reporters and a closed-door session, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou met for an hour on neutral ground today (Nov 7) in Singapore. 

Here’s what Mr Ma said after the hour-long meeting in a press conference:

I understand that some reporters encountered some inconvenience during this meeting, and I empathise. I just met with Mr Xi, and we talked about the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties. We exchanged views in a cordial and positive atmosphere. I found Mr Xi to be very frank and pragmatic, and we hope this will be good for relations.

Among the things we discussed, we talked about maintaining the status quo of peace based on the 1992 consensus, and insist on the principle of One China. We will not talk about independence. What we are after is mutual peace and prosperity, and we will continue on that path.

Second, we discussed how to reduce enmity and peacefully resolve miscommunications. Peace and dignity matters to our people. We hope China can understand. I talked about multilateral space and our people’s NGOs difficulties in participating in such activities. I expressed hope that this can be reduced. Especially among the NGOs and grassroots sector. Mr Xi said that such issues will be dealt with on a case by case basis and dealt with appropriately.

I also expressed the concerns that the Taiwanese people have against China, especially over China’s placement of armaments (facing Taiwan). Mr Xi said that the weapons are not directed against Taiwan.

Thirdly, we spoke about expanding cross-Strait exchanges. We emphasised that both sides have different systems, so we need genuine exchanges. When we join organisations, it should not be about who joins first. Mr Xi expressed his willingness to discuss this further, and extended his invitation to Taiwan to join in China’s One Belt One Road, and other such initiatives.

We also spoke on the idea of a hotline between both sides. Mr Xi said that this was an issue that could be explored further.

In the discussion, I also brought up the issue of letting more Chinese students come over to Taiwan for exchanges. As the Taiwanese are aware, we currently lack manpower in technological fields. Currently, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Indonesia have all sent lecturers in such fields to teach in our universities. I said that we would welcome Chinese lecturers to come to China to teach as well. I want to let Taiwan become a tertiary education hub for the region. Mr Xi said he was willing to explore this possibility further.

Lastly, we also spoke about the need for both sides to handle cross-Strait ties pragmatically and not rush into trying to resolve everything at once - given that we have a number of sensitive historical issues that still need to be addressed. If we try to address such issues too hastily, it is bound to present problems later. The desire to maintain peace and stability in cross-Strait ties is the desire of the Taiwanese people. We must maintain a spirit of mutual respect and good intentions in order to close the gap between us, and bring both sides closer. I also expressed the hope that both sides could resolve our differences peacefully and without enmity.