China, Taiwan Leaders Exchange Greetings

Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou’s election as chairman of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party (KMT or Kuomintang) drew a congratulatory message from China president Hu Jintao, who doubles as Chinese Communist Party chairman. Hu greeted Ma [pictured, under China Republic founder Sun Yat-sen, hero in both China and Taiwan] as a fellow party leader, which allows the two to communicate without reference to Ma’s official Taiwan title. We noted earlier how this party-to-party dialog might pull Taiwan and China closer, a possibility made far more real now that Ma has become the KMT leader.

An analysis published online at the government-run China Daily site speculates that a Hu-Ma meeting is unlikely before Ma’s 2012 re-election campaign. Phillip C. Saunders and Scott Kastner, writing in Foreign Policy, agree, but think if Ma is re-elected, Hu would want an historic Beijing meeting with Ma in 2012 before Hu steps down as China’s president that fall.

The stars keep aligning for improved China-Taiwan relations, should Ma be able to maintain support from Taiwan’s overwhelmingly Taiwanese population.