Chinese mainland and Taiwan announce first meeting of leaders since 1949

World Today

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's leader Ma Ying-jeouChinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s leader Ma Ying-jeou

For the first time since 1949, the Chinese President and the Taiwan leader will meet to talk about relations between the two sides.

The meeting was confirmed by Zhang Zhijun, the chief of office of Chinese mainland Taiwan affairs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s leader Ma Ying-jeou will meet in Singapore on November 7 according to a tweet by Xinhua.

Leaders of the two sides have not met since Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communists in the 1940s, and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan 160 kilometers (100 miles) away.

Chinese mainland and Taiwan have signed 23 deals covering mainly trade, transit and investment, binding Taiwan closer to its top trading partner and the world’s second-largest economy.

Story complied with information from CCTV, Xinhua and the Associated Press.