Former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) will embark on a trip today to attend the Boao Forum for Asia summit in Hainan, China, and will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Saturday or Sunday, the Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation said yesterday.
Siew, the honorary chairman of the foundation, will lead a delegation of more than 30 business leaders to the annual conference. During his meeting with Xi the two are expected to exchange ideas on cross-strait political and economic developments.
Foundation chairman Chan Hou-sheng (詹火生) said Siew and the delegation would arrive in Boao today. The former vice president will attend the forum’s opening ceremony on Sunday.
He declined to say whether the meeting between Siew and Xi will be held on Saturday, saying it could also be held on Sunday after the opening ceremony.
“We haven’t heard from the organizers about the meeting. The Taiwan Affairs Office will make the arrangements,” he said.
Siew is a veteran of the Boao Forum, having attended it since 2003 in a private capacity as chairman of the Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation, a non-profit organization that he founded. In 2008, he also became the first vice president-elect to appear at the forum.
Last year, before his inauguration, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) became the second vice president-elect to attend, sparking disputes over his presence and meeting with then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
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