Breaking news indeed ! Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's
leader Ma Ying-jeou met in Singapore
on Saturday November 7, 2015.
They shook hands for one minute and twenty seconds. That was a very long
handshake. Would you do it with a friend and see how it feels, to shake hands
for that long ? Though Xi and Ma's handshake was only a symbolic handshake for
peace, it was a very important handshake. As I said in the past, and now again,
that shaking hands is always better than shooting bullets and dropping
bombs.
This meeting of Xi and Ma, the top leaders from both sides
of the strait, was the first since 1949. During the historic meeting, the two
sides exchanged views on promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait
relations. Zhang Zhijun, the head of China's
Taiwan affairs,
said the meeting was a milestone event achieved
through the constant efforts from people across the strait.
My thoughts and comments:
China (People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (Republic of China) are made of the same Chinese people
with the same language, culture, ethnicity, race, heritage, history and
commonality. They are separate only because of a civil war in the 1940s and the
political difference in their forms of government. They are sort of like being
separated, but not legally divorced. There is no divorce, but there is no
reconciliation either. So Taiwan currently is not an independent country (although it
operates just like one), but it is not part of Chinese sovereignty either
(although China continues to claim the sovereignty and treat Taiwan as a renegade province).
Not that I think China and
Taiwan will be unified soon, but I can say with confidence that those Taiwanese
who think they are not Chinese, and want Taiwan to become fully independent are
out of their mind. Taiwanese are Chinese, but Chinese are not necessarily
Taiwanese. This simple fact would not be easy for the independence-seeking
Taiwanese to refute. Besides, China is many times stronger than Taiwan economically, politically and militarily. Taiwan would be really stupid and self-defeating to fight with China.
Who wants to bet on my belief
that Taiwan cannot and will not become a fully independent country? Let's
face it: there is only one China. Nobody can change the One-China Policy, not even the
UN. The only 2 options left is either for Taiwan to remain status quo, or
become a highly autonomous region of China, based on the 1 country 2 systems
model, sort of like Hong Kong and Macao. It would be very interesting to keep
watching what will happen in the next 30 years or so.
