article: This is on a par with US President Barack Obama meeting with Cuba's Raul Castro except, unlike Washington and Havana, the two sides still haven't normalised relations. In fact they haven't even signed a peace treaty and in 66 years they have taken very different paths. No agreements will be signed, no joint statements made, but China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou will have an hour-long meeting and a casual dinner afterwards. It could get awkward and here are some of the questions that could crop up. China has hundreds of missiles targeted at Taiwan to warn the island against declaring formal independence. Beijing still considers Taiwan a province to be reunified with the mainland one day and has not renounced the use of force to take it back. In fact, one of the main reasons for its military build-up is to counter possible US assistance to Taiwan if Beijing were to try to take back militarily. Mr. Ma would argue: "If you want to be friends, you must remove these missiles." "Not that simple," Mr Xi might answer. Doing so could embolden pro-independence groups in Taiwan who want the island to be recognised as a completely separate country from China. The meeting will take place less than three months before Taiwan holds presidential and legislative races, but truly democratic elections like these are not in China's vocabulary. Taiwan, on the other hand, has developed into a vibrant democracy and is proud of its system. Over dinner, Mr Ma could share his low approval rating headaches with Mr Xi and even make jokes about how hard it is to finish a speech when protesters are trying to throw shoes at him. Mr Xi might just politely smile and think to himself: "And you wonder why we run things like we do?" Mr Xi will be eager to push relations forward. During Mr Ma's seven years in office, the two sides have signed many agreements - from those that have allowed first-ever direct flights to ones that bring millions of Chinese tourists to Taiwan each year, not to mention tariff-cutting trade deals. China is eager to link Taiwan's economy and society even closer to the mainland's, and begin talking about unification. But Mr Ma will have to explain that public opinion does not support more deals and such talks at the moment. Many people are worried too many deals signed too quickly and without enough public oversight may make the island over-dependent on China and vulnerable to unification pressures. Mr Ma might explain to Mr Xi: "In Taiwan, unlike mainland China, public opinion matters a lot. That is how I got my job in the first place." Like many Chinese people who consider Taiwan the long-lost sibling they must see at least once in their lifetime, Mr Xi would want to eventually travel to "our treasured island" which is what many Chinese people call Taiwan. But Mr Ma will not be able to extend the invitation. That would be asking for trouble. Given China's motive for developing stronger ties, Taiwanese not in
summary: On Saturday, for the first time since their bitter split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the leaders of China and Taiwan will meet.