China and Taiwan are destined for ‘reunification’, Xi tells former president

News Snapshot:

Xi Jinping has met the former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou, in what analysts said was an attempt to promote peaceful unification as the only alternative to military annexation of Taiwan. Ma, who was leading a student delegation to China, met Xi in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People, a venue typically reserved for foreign leaders meeting with senior Chinese officials. Xi used the meeting to emphasise his belief that Taiwan and China were destined for what he terms “reunification”. “External interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family,” Xi said, according to Taiwanese...