Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan are scheduled to meet this weekend in Singapore for the first such meeting since the Chinese civil war in 1949. In that year, the Kuomintang fled the mainland of China and set up an independent Republic of China in opposition to the People’s Republic of China established by Mao Zedong. The US supported the Republic of China until 1972 when US President Nixon recognized the PRC as the official government of the Chinese people. Since that time, China has regarded the government in Taiwan as a renegade province that needs ultimately to be unified with China. Presumably, that reunification will be a concern for the two Presidents, but it is unlikely that either side will make any explicit comments about it.
In a setback to efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions, researchers have found that China has underestimated its coal consumption by about 17%, or about the same amount of carbon dioxide that Germany emits in a year. The news will undoubtedly have an effect on the climate change talks scheduled for the end of the year in Paris. The discrepancy is an indication of how difficult it is to gather accurate information about the ecological consequences of human activity and does not necessarily reflect an attempt by China to distort its figures.
The latest theory behind the Russian airline tragedy in Egypt is that a bomb was responsible for the disaster. At this time, all I have are assertions by British intelligence agencies with hints of confirmation by US intelligence. There is no reason to rush to a judgment. I intend to wait for the evidence to be presented and assessed by experts. I vividly remember how we were all assured that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in 2003.
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I think it’s interesting that president jinping and ying-jeou are meeting. When you say that reunification is a concern of both sides are you saying that Taiwan would actually consider sacrificing their independence? My first thought, when I saw this, is that this meeting sounds like jinpings meeting is almost a sign of recognition of the island as an independent state. If others see it that way do you think jinping is in danger of upsetting his own people and party who still see Taiwan as a part of China?
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do you think that this will be interpreted by the Chinese people and other political figures as a recognition of taiwan’s independence? That is how I originally interpreted it until I read about the coming elections in Taiwan. And if it is interpreted that way do you think that jinping will lose popularity/get blow back from other Chinese leaders?
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It is virtually impossible to think that China will ever recognize Taiwan’s independence, and, I suspect, the Taiwan government is quite aware of that fact. Taiwan will try to preserve as much freedom as it can as a Chinese province and that involves a lot of bargaining and negotiations. But I doubt that independence is on the table at all.
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