Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Thursday his upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping was about further normalizing ties with China and had nothing to do with trying to revive his party's fortunes ahead of the island's elections in January.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks with his Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou in Singapore on Saturday in the first such meeting of leaders from the two rivals since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949.
Separatists on Sunday won a clear majority of seats in Catalonia's parliament in an election that sets the region on a collision course with Spain's central government over independence.
Taiwan is spinning away from China's idealized model of "one country, two systems" as a renewed spirit of democracy sweeps across its political sphere, rousing a new cadre of grassroots leaders critical of a shared future with China.
