Singapore, which has been a wellspring for key advancements in cross-Straits ties in the past, is once again attracting world attention with an announcement by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council that General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping and Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou will meet there on Saturday to exchange views on the future of relations.

It will be the first cross-Straits meeting between top leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Straits since the founding of New China in 1949.

Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, said he believes Singapore was chosen mainly because it has played a special role in relations in the past.