Envoy visits amid protests
Taiwan’s president and the most senior Communist Chinese official to ever visit the island held a brief but historic meeting today, capping what the Taiwanese leader described as a successful trip even as anti-China protesters battled police outside.
The five-minute meeting between Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and the Chinese envoy, Chen Yunlin, came two days after the rivals signed a landmark agreement that many believe will greatly ease tensions between Taiwan and China.
Chen did not address Ma by the title "president," sticking to Beijing’s policy of avoiding any terms or symbols that suggest Taiwan is an independent country.
This angered many of the hundreds of protesters who gathered in the streets around the government guesthouse where the meeting was being held. Hundreds of riot police shut down streets around the venue with barricades wrapped with barbed wire.
