On the topic of cross-strait relations, President Ma stated that since he took office in 2008 his administration has sought to promote peaceful development with mainland China. Over the past seven years the two sides have signed 23 agreements, and the heads of the agencies on either side responsible for cross-strait affairs have met a total of seven times, and addressed each other using their official titles at those meetings. As for non-governmental ties, President Ma noted the following: the number of regularly scheduled direct cross-strait flights now exceeds 890 per week; there are now about 42,000 mainland students studying in Taiwan as of January 2016, almost 50 times more than the 823 students who had been studying here before he took office; and arrivals from mainland China exceeded four million last year. Concrete successes such as these clearly show that the Taiwan Strait has been transformed from a "battlefield" into a "marketplace."
And on November 7 last year, said the president, and predicated on equality and dignity, he met with mainland Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore. This was the first time since the two sides came under separate rule 67 years ago that their respective leaders had formally met. The two sides agreed to treat the 1992 Consensus as the basis for continued maintenance of the cross-strait status quo and consolidation of peace in the Taiwan Strait. "Peace," he said, "is a very important goal in cross-strait relations."
【Source: Office of the President】