Taiwan's president says island will not rush on political talks with China
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Taiwan's president has said that the democratic island is in no rush to enter into substantive political talks with mainland China, despite a call to do so by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Addressing journalists on Friday, Ma Ying-jeou said that "we have a principle of discussing easy matters before harder ones and economic issue before political ones," adding that one of the subjects currently under discussion between Taipei and Beijing — opening representative offices on each other's territory — did have a political component.
That statement appears to be an effort by Ma to deflect pressure from Beijing on the slow pace of political dialogue between the sides.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. China still claims the democratic island as part of its territory.