Analysts say that the meeting between the leaders of Beijing and Taiwan, which comes weeks ahead of elections on the island, could be a bid by China to shape the Taiwanese presidential result by trying to show that ties will continue to improve if Taiwan continues to be ruled by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT).

… But, as Dr Wu Shang-Su, a research fellow with the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told TODAY, the meeting would shape the “status quo”, and therefore “would make sure whomever to be President will not get out of the current trend of integration. In other words, Beijing’s influence in Taipei, similar to the past seven years, will continue to increase. During this process, the unification will be gradually formed like putting puzzles together.”