It has been 66 years since the presidential leaders of China and Taiwan have met with a warm exchange.
On Saturday, China’s Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou broke the Cold War tradition, meeting on neutral grounds in the Southeast Asian city state of Singapore.
Up until this leader summit, China and Taiwan have been silent since the civil war rivalry began in 1949.
Xi said, “The development of cross-strait relations over the past 66 years show that no matter what kind of winds and rains are experienced by compatriots on the two sides, no matter how long divisions last, there is no power that can separate us."
He added, “We are brothers connected by flesh even if our bones are broken, we are a family whose blood is thicker than water."
Speaking even kinder words, Ma said, “Even though this is the first meeting, we feel like old friends.”
As reported by USA Today, Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949 when Mao Zedong led Communist forces to victory and the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kaishek, fled to Taipei, where they set up a rival government which claimed to be the legitimate government of the island and the mainland.
