BEIJING — The highest-ranking mainland Chinese official to visit Taiwan got an up-close lesson in democracy Thursday as thousands of protesters blared air horns, scuffled with police and threw stones on a day he held a historic meeting with the island’s president.
In a bid to keep protesters off-balance, Taiwan held the meeting between Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin and President Ma Ying-jeou five hours earlier than announced. But a few demonstrators still managed to get to the site, to be met by hundreds of riot police deployed near barricades layered with barbed wire.
“Taiwan is a democracy,” said Thomas M.F. Yeh, vice chairman of Polaris Securities and a former Taiwanese official. “That’s our system.”
Thursday was the fourth day of Chen’s trip, each day marked by protests that underscore the continued division in Taiwanese society over how far to engage with China and under what terms. Ma has made improved relations with the mainland a cornerstone policy since he was elected in March, part of a bid to jump-start the island’s economy and end decades of enmity across the Taiwan Strait.
On Tuesday, Chen signed a long-anticipated deal that will allow direct passenger and cargo flights and ocean shipping service across the 100-mile strait. Previously the services have been forced to pass through third-party air or ocean territory, adding time and expense.
The two sides have been divided since 1949, when Nationalists fled to the island, leaving the Communists in control of China. Beijing has long vowed to bring the self-governing island under its control by force if necessary.
A great deal of public speculation leading up to the meeting centered on whether Chen would refer to Ma as “president,” given that China views the island as a breakaway province.
A compromise was struck for the brief meeting. A Taiwanese master of ceremonies announced that the “president had arrived” as Ma entered the room. Ma then greeted Chen as the “president” of the Chinese negotiating body, which he is.
At that point, Chen avoided using any title with Ma, employing an honorific form of “you” as he handed over a painting of a horse as a gift.
