President Ma Ying-jeou says that he showed no weakness when discussing the issue of Chinese missiles pointed at Taiwan during his recent meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Ma was speaking during a TV interview on Wednesday.
Ma met with Xi in Singapore Saturday in what was the first meeting between leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Strait since their separation 66 years ago. It is reported that China has more than 1,000 missiles pointed at Taiwan.
Ma said that he brought up the issue of the missiles during the meeting, though the topic was not in the original script that he was going to read. He said that one reason for his decision was that he wanted to get Xi to take concrete measures on the issue. Ma said it was the first time in history for a president of the Republic of China (ROC) to speak to Xi concerning the matter.
“We spoke about this issue in a very serious manner," said Ma, "from my point of view, it was very firm and very appropriate. I did not show any weakness at all.”
Ma said that one positive outcome of the Ma-Xi meeting was that he was able to present Taiwan’s stances on a variety of issues directly to Xi Jinping.