- Leaders of China and Taiwan hold first talks since bitter 1949 split
CNN November 7, 2015
(CNN) When the Presidents of China and Taiwan shook hands on Saturday, they reached across a gap that has yawned between the two sides since 1949, in the wake of China's civil war.
Then, the Communist Party took control of the majority of China and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to Taiwan. The mainland became the People's Republic of China; Taiwan took the name Republic of China and embraced democracy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou met in a third-party country -- Singapore. They eschewed their presidential titles and address each other simply as "Mr."
In a Thursday press conference, Ma said that the two sides would even split the bill for their hotel and meal costs.
What may seem like informal manners was actually governed by a complicated protocol reflecting the bitter history between the two. Every gesture they made has been closely scrutinized.
Improvement? Perhaps, perhaps not
The two men sounded upbeat in their public statements.
"Today marks a new chapter in the cross-strait relationship," Xi told journalists. "The separation of families on both sides of the Taiwan strait has caused deep pain and regrets to countless families."
Ma called for a hotline between Taiwan and the mainland to deal with urgent matters.
"I call for (a) reduction of hostility, and for the resolution of disputes with peaceful measures," he said. "I call for enhancement of cross-strait exchange, and reinforcement of win-win."
But Ma's political opposition in Taiwan is displeased with the meeting with Xi, and with an election around the corner, they are ahead in the polls. Ma's visit could boost his party's standing, analysts say, but it also might not.
Protesters took to the street in Taiwan's capital Taipei to voice protest against the meeting.
Taiwan politics
Ma is the former head of the Kuomintang (KMT) party, and has been a key driver in forging closer ties with Beijing since he came to power in a 2008 election.
Tsai Ing-wen, the head of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the leading candidate to replace Ma in the January elections, has spoken out against his rival's historic meeting with Xi on Saturday.
The KMT's candidate Eric Chiu is trailing Tsai by a wide margin, and Ma cannot run because of term limits. If the positive effects of closer ties between China and Taiwan don't weigh well in the balance, Ma's party could lose by a landslide.
China sees Taiwan as a renegade province, which heats up resentment in Taiwan. Beijing has warned that a formal declaration of independence by Taiwan could lead to military intervention.
To this day, it's reported to have missiles pointed at the island of 22 million people.
Ma raised the issue with Xi on Saturday.
"I have expressed people's concerns over the deployment of hostile military presence against Taiwan, including missiles. Xi told me that those are not targeted at Taiwan," Ma said.
Xi: One country, not two
On Saturday, Xi reinforced Beijing's stance that Taiwan is a Chinese province.
In a closed door meeting, he told Ma that the cross-strait relationship is not a relationship between two countries, is not the relationship between China and Taiwan. Territories on both sides of the strait belong to the same country, this is a historical fact, and the legal foundation of this fact cannot and will not change, he said, according to China's Taiwan Affairs Office.
That will likely not sit well with many in Taiwan.
Ma told journalists that Taiwan agreed with China's One China Policy, "but we continue to differ on its definition."
Despite differences, both sides have made strides toward each other over the last seven years.
"Since 2008, the cross-strait relations have moved on to a path of peaceful development, and have been increasingly stabilized in the past seven years, thanks to the efforts of many people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," Xi said.
No agreements
Both sides have said that no agreements would be signed at the meeting, but that they would discuss ways to cement peace.
"If Xi tries to put down any markers about improving political ties or setting any deadlines for steps toward reunification, it will cause a massive anti-Beijing backlash across Taiwan," said Robert Manning, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Despite the rift, China is Taiwan's biggest trade partner, hundreds of flights go between the two nations each week and Chinese banks now operate on the island, while some Taiwanese companies have factories in China.
- Calls for new era of airport security after Sinai terror
Fears focus on screening of baggage handlers as aviation experts demand new global response
The Guardian 7 November 2015
A fundamental overhaul of global aviation security is required in the wake of the Russian passenger plane crash, said senior industry experts, amid fears that flight safety is being compromised at many international airports.
The Observer has learned that Egyptian airport and security officials have launched an investigation into all staff at Sharm el-Sheikh airport who came into contact with the Russian plane, which crashed 23 minutes after takeoff, killing all 224 people on board. The move has increased speculation that a bomb may have been smuggled on to the aircraft.
In the wake of the disaster, aviation experts said a new international framework was needed to prevent airport security weaknesses being exploited by terrorists. They said urgent changes were needed to upgrade security checks made on airport staff before they reached “airside”, as well as a thorough raising of the vetting and recruitment process of airport workers.
How Sinai became a magnet for terror
Matthew Finn, who last month chaired the international world aviation security conference in Dublin, said that the issue of workers such as baggage handlers reaching airside without being screened or subjected to adequate security checks had to be addressed following the apparent explosion that downed flight 9268.
“There needs to be an international response in terms of how everybody working in the aviation environment is vetted,” said Finn, managing director of independent aviation security consultants Augmentiq.
“We need to ensure people who come into contact with aircraft in secure areas are the right people and that we are recruiting the right people for those jobs. There needs to be an international framework about how everyone working in the airport is screened and by whom.”
Global security expert Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International – who chaired a session during the recent Dublin conference examining possible threats from airport “insiders” – said security needed to become both more unpredictable and thorough to confound future terrorism attempts.
The current international approach was, said Baum, fundamentally flawed because it was too focused on producing minimum standards that even lax airports could comply with.
“There would be much better security if you had no idea what type of screening process you were going to go through,” he said. “One person went through advanced imaging technology, one was going to be swabbed, one was going to be frisked – from a terrorist’s point of view that’s a nightmare, and why don’t we do the same with airport employees?
We need to move away from security theatre into security reality
Security expert
“Until we address those inherent failures we are always going to have something that on the surface looks good, where passengers can say ‘Security was really good because they took my bottle of water away’, which is meaningless in 2015. We need to move away from security theatre into security reality.”
Officials in Sharm el-Sheikh have disclosed that they are checking the airport’s security camera footage for evidence of suspicious activity prior to last week’s Metrojet flight.
It also emerged on Saturday that the examination of CCTV footage of baggage handling by British aviation experts last Wednesday afternoon revealed evidence of flaws in the screening process that led to the grounding of UK flights.
“We want to determine if, for instance, anyone sneaked past security officials or the metal detectors,” said another Egyptian official. “We are also trying to determine if there was any unusual activity among policemen or airport staff.”
The latest moves follow claims in the French media that the sound of an apparent explosion can be heard on the flight recorder of the Russian-operated plane that came down over the Sinai peninsula.
- China warns US it could spark war with 'provocative acts' in South China Sea
Beijing’s top admiral issues the warning during teleconference talks with his US counterpart aimed at defusing tension in the region
The USS Lassen (front) sailed within 12 nautical miles of the islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea. Photograph: NAVAL AIR CREWMAN EVAN KENNY / U/EPA
The Guardian 30 October 2015
China has warned the US that its “dangerous and provocative acts” in the South China Sea could lead to “a minor incident that sparks war”.
China’s naval commander, Admiral Wu Shengli, issued the warning to his American counterpart Admiral John Richardson during video conference talks on Thursday aimed at defusing tension in the region, according to a Chinese naval statement.
Neither China nor the US will give way in this South China Sea showdown
“If the United States continues with these kinds of dangerous, provocative acts, there could well be a seriously pressing situation between frontline forces from both sides on the sea and in the air, or even a minor incident that sparks war,” the statement paraphrased Wu as saying.
“I hope the US side cherishes the good situation between the Chinese and US navies that has not come easily and avoids these kinds of incidents from happening again,” Wu said.
The high-level talks followed mounting international alarm in the wake of the decision by Washington to send a US destroyer close to artificial islands built by Beijing in the South China Sea.
According to the Pentagon, however, the hour-long talks had been “productive”.
The admirals discussed “freedom of navigation operations, the relationship between the two navies including pending port visits, senior leader engagement and the importance of maintaining an ongoing dialogue”, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Navy spokesman Lieutenant Tim Hawkins said the conversation on Thursday had been “professional and productive”.
The USS Lassen guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the land formations claimed by China in the disputed Spratly Islands chain on Tuesday.
The move prompted the Chinese government to summon the US ambassador in Beijing and denounce what it called a threat to its sovereignty.
The US said after Thursday’s talks that the Chinese had expressed no desire to cancel scheduled visits by Chinese ships to a Florida port next week and that an upcoming visit to China by the commander of the US Pacific Command would still take place.
“We look forward to continue this dialogue,” an official said.
Wu and Richardson, the US navy operations chief, had agreed to speak again via video conference later this year.
Tensions have mounted since China transformed reefs in the area – also claimed by several neighbouring countries – into small islands capable of supporting military facilities, a move the US says threatens freedom of navigation.
Washington has repeatedly said it does not recognise Chinese claims to territorial waters around the artificial islands and reiterated that it would send more warships to sail close to the controversial islets.
But in a move that is likely to trigger fury in Beijing and reignite tension in the region, an international tribunal ruled on Thursday that it had the power to hear a case brought by the Philippines over the disputed seas.
Manila has insisted the UN convention on the law of the sea, which the Philippines and China have both ratified, should be used to resolve the bitter territorial row over isolated reefs and islets.
China has refused to participate in the proceedings, arguing the Permanent Court of Arbitration – which is more than a century old and based in The Hague – had no jurisdiction over the case.
“Reviewing the claims submitted by the Philippines, the tribunal has rejected the argument” by China that the “dispute is actually about sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and therefore beyond the tribunal’s jurisdiction”, the court said in a statement.
Instead, the court ruled the case reflects “disputes between the two states concerning the interpretation or application of the convention” - something which falls within its remit.
A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday that China would neither participate in nor accept the case. Vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin added that the case would not affect China’s sovereign claims in the seas.
China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which about a third of all the world’s traded oil passes.
Following a stand-off between Chinese ships and the weak Filipino navy in 2012, China took control of a rich fishing ground called Scarborough Shoal that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
China has also undertaken giant reclamation activities, raising fears it will use artificial islands to build new military outposts close to the Philippines and other claimants.
China may fear reputation damage more than military threats over South China Sea
The tribunal – set up in 1899 to resolve international disputes between countries – stressed on Thursday its ruling did not yet go to the heart of the merits of Manila’s case, which was first filed in 2013.
A new hearing will now be held behind closed doors in The Hague, and a final ruling is not expected until next year.
The tribunal agreed it would take up seven of the 15 submissions made by Manila, in particular whether Scarborough Shoal and low-tide areas like Mischief Reef can be considered islands, as China contends.
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