Taiwan opposition says Ma-Xi meet should not be used as an election ploy
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's main opposition party said on Wednesday that cross-strait issues should not be used as an election ploy, just hours after Taiwan and China announced their leaders would meet for the first time since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949. Talks scheduled in Singapore on Saturday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Taiwan counterpart Ma Ying-jeou come at a sensitive time for the island. Taiwan's presidential elections are set for Jan. 16, amid growing anti-China sentiment among younger Taiwanese worried about Beijing's growing economic influence. "Cross-strait issues have national interest at stake and should go beyond political considerations," said Cheng Yun-peng, spokesman for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which traditionally favors independence, and is loathed by China. "They should not be used as part of election operations," Cheng told a news conference. "However, the current period coincides with Taiwan's election and President Ma picks this sensitive time for meetings. How can people not think of this as a political operation intended to affect the election?" Opinion polls show Ma's ruling Nationalists are trailing behind the DPP in the runup to the January vote for a new president and legislature. Ma, who is set to step down next year due to term limits, has made improving economic links with China a key policy since he took office in 2008. He has signed a series of landmark business and tourism deals, though there has been no progress in resolving their political differences. Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to Taiwan following their defeat by Mao Zedong's Communists at the end of the Chinese civil war. Since then Taiwan has been self-ruled. But Beijing still regards Taiwan as part of China. China deems the island a breakaway province to be taken back, by force if necessary, particularly if it makes moves toward independence. No peace treaty has ever been signed to formally end the civil war. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
