Branches Divided.docVIP

Branches Divided 　　Although no joint statement was is- sued nor any agreement signed， when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Taiwans outgoing leader Ma Yingjeou on November 7 in Singapore， the two set a symbolic milestone for the cross-Straits relationship. 　　In the more than six decades since the Communist Party of China （CPC） founded the Peoples Republic of China （PRC） following the retreat of the Kuomintang （KMT） to Taiwan after defeat in the Chinese Civil War（1945-1949）， top leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Straits have never met. Instead， each side has characterized itself in part by a pledge to “liberate” the other from tyranny. 　　However， given the changes in international geopolitics following the Korean War（1950-1953） and the increased interest of the United States in the Taiwan issue， the mainland and Taipei have used a variety of channels to indirectly discuss the potential of various forms of peaceful unification. 　　Some overseas media sources revealed， for example， that then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai met with either KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek or his son Chiang Ching-kuo in a closed-door negotiation in 1963. While mainland sources confirm a meeting that year between Zhou and a top-level Taiwanese dignitary， they have consistently denied that the personage sent by Taiwan was either of the Chiangs. “It was someone with direct access to the top leadership in Taiwan， but， in the interests of security， his name has been kept confidential to this day，” Liao Xinwen， a former director of the CPC Party Literature Research Office， told NewsChina. 　　Liberation’ 　　No matter the identity of Taiwans mysterious “negotiator，” there were evidently covert efforts by the mainland to ease tensions in the Taiwan Straits after the US ramped up support for Chiangs regime as a bulwark against the spread of communism in East Asia following the Korean War. 　　On June 27， 1950， two days after the Korean War broke out， the US deployed its Seventh Fleet in the Taiwan St