Taiwan student protest hurts chance of meeting between Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou, experts say

The stand-off in Taiwan over a cross-strait services pact has likely scuttled what would have been a historic meeting later this year between President Xi Jinping and the island's leader, Ma Ying-jeou, analysts say.

At a cross-strait forum held in Hong Kong on Wednesday, speakers from Beijing and Taipei said warming ties had been affected by the student-led protest. One of the protesters' chief concerns is that the pact, which would open services such as banking and healthcare, would give the mainland a measure of control over the island.

"Zhang Zhijun, chief of the Mainland Taiwan Affairs Office, cancelled a trip to Taiwan scheduled for later this month," said Hong Chi-chang, a former legislator with Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Fierce opposition to the pact has torpedoed a number of cross-strait exchanges.

The provincial governments of Guizhou and Jiangsu withdrew plans to promote trade on the island this month, said Hong, who once led the Straits Exchange Foundation, Taiwan's non-governmental body for cross-strait affairs.

In February, Wang Yu-chi, chairman of the island's Mainland Affairs Council, held out a possible meeting between Xi and Ma at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Beijing in November.