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Hey Mister, Meet Mister: The Problem of Titles in China-Taiwan Meeting
- Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, left, and Mr. Xi Jinping.
- Pichi Chuang/Reuters
It may seem like only a detail, but what China’s and Taiwan’s leaders will call each other at Saturday’s historic meeting is no small matter.
Beijing doesn’t recognize Taiwan as an independent country, so there’s no way China’s President Xi Jinping would call Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou by his official title. But any appellation hinting Taiwan falls under Beijing’s jurisdiction would be unacceptable on the democratic, self-ruled island.
China has continued to consider Taiwan part of its territory after the two split in 1949 after its civil war and maintains it will eventually reunify the island, by force if necessary.
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Such titular matters are taken seriously by both sides. A long-anticipated meeting between China’s and Taiwan’s cultural ministers was scrapped last year due to disagreement over what to call each other.
Due to the linguistic minefields, Mr. Xi and Mr. Ma will simply call each other “xiansheng” or “mister,” on Saturday, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
“This is a practical arrangement under the principle of ‘One China,’ due to the situation that the two sides’ political disagreements have not yet been completely resolved,” Xinhua said. “It reflects the shelving of disputes and the spirit of mutual respect.”
In reports of the upcoming meeting, Xinhua called the two “leaders of the two coasts” and “mister.” Taiwan’s official Central News Agency called Mr. Ma “president” without specifying a country name, while calling Mr. Xi “China’s Communist leader.”
If the Xi-Ma meeting had taken place a year ago, the two leaders might have met as chairmen of their respective political parties. This was long floated by analysts as a workaround. But Mr. Ma resigned as chairman of Taiwan’s ruling Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, at the end of last year, after his party received a drubbing in mid-term elections.
“It’s a big issue, especially from the Chinese side, as they have a lot of regulations of what titles can be used,” said Bruce Jacobs, an emeritus professor at Monash University. “There’s no way Xi can call him president, because that would imply Taiwan is a country.”
–Eva Dou. Follow her on Twitter @evadou.
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