The leaders of China and Taiwan have held historic talks in Singapore – their first in more than 60 years. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou shook hands at the start of the talks, which were seen as largely symbolic. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province which will one day be reunited with the mainland.But many Taiwanese see it as independent and are concerned at China’s growing influence. The meeting “has opened a historic chapter in the cross-Strait relations, and history will remember today”, he added. The meeting took place in neutral territory on the sidelines of a state visit by Mr Xi to Singapore. Relations between China and Taiwan have improved under Mr Ma since he took office in 2008, with better economic ties, improving tourism links, and a trade pact signed.The two sides split in 1949 when the Kuomintang lost to the Chinese Communist Party in the civil war and set up a new government in Taiwan.Similarly China has now weighed in to support the role of Pakistan in the currently dormant peace process within and around Afghanistan. There is much at stake, and not only for China. Peace, if it ever comes in Afghanistan, will be a game changer, and a possible key, if not to prosperity in the short term then to improved lives for many millions across the region generally.
The Chinese Special Envoy on Afghanistan, Deng Xijun, has been in Islamabad to make that very point. How much importance China attaches to the peace process may be determined by the fact that this is the envoy’s first port of call since his appointment. He will spend two days in Pakistan before moving on to Kabul. Chinese and Pakistani interests in respect of Afghanistan and peace are convergent. The success of the western arm of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is to a degree dependent on achieving peace in Afghanistan because the potential for disruption by the spillover of any conflict in that country to Pakistan and the western route would defeat the object of the exercise. China has already hosted a Taliban delegation in the early stages of negotiations and will have maintained back-channel contacts despite the hiatus. China will also be making its views clear on the matter of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, currently at a low point after a brief uptick in the latter part of 2014 and early 2015.
pk.shafaqna.com
