Ma-Xi Meetup???

It's a common pattern for Ma to float ideas like a meet up with President Xi of China in the foreign press -- in this case a Hong Kong paper -- and then "explain" them to the home media. TT says:

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday defended the possibility of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at next year’s APEC meeting in Beijing, insisting that such a meeting would only be held if supported by Taiwanese and if national dignity can be maintained.

The Mainland Affairs Council said that a Ma-Xi Mating would not be on the agenda for discussion with the Taiwan Affairs Office of Beijing.

Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), is expected to meet with his counterpart, Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), director of the Mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), after the Chinese Lunar New Year's holidays (Jan. 30 – Feb. 4) on the Mainland. An MAC official pointed out that both sides were still proposing topics for discussion during the meeting, but a meeting between President Ma and his Mainland counterpart Xi Jinping was not on the agenda. According to the MAC official, our side would not take the initiative to bring up the possibility of a Ma-Xi meeting. However, if the TAO should bring up the possibility of such a meeting, the MAC would consider it.

Ma always raises the issue of a meeting, which he obviously desperately wants, in the context of denying that Taiwan is ready for a meeting. FocusTW reports on Ma's eagerness and appears to suggest that Ma might be willing to accept going to the meeting with a title other than President. In fact the day before Christmas Ma admitted China has already ruled out such a meeting....
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