AFP/Taipei

Hundreds of angry protesters massed outside Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou’s office yesterday, condemning his warm exchange with China’s leader in a summit that has fuelled fears the democratic island will be swallowed up by its giant rival.
Angry demonstrators tried to storm parliament overnight and 27 were arrested at the airport yesterday as Ma headed to a summit his opponents say is a sell-out to Beijing which is bent on expanding its influence.
Later, up to 500 protesters, representing an array of groups including farmers, rights activists and environmentalists, raged over the cordial get-together at a Singapore hotel where Ma told China’s leader Xi Jinping that they already “feel like old friends”.
“How can he ... without any negotiation go to meet with the leader of our enemy? I believe this is getting to the level of treason,” said Lin Hsiu-hsin, vice chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
Protest leaders were infuriated by Xi’s comments that the two sides are “a family” that can never be divided - a reference to the mainland’s unchanging position that Taiwan is a breakaway province awaiting reunification.
“Xi Jinping said we belong to one China. Can you accept it?” Lee Ken-cheng from the Beijing-sceptic environmentalist Green Party bellowed to the crowd.
“No!” they roared back.
There are deep suspicions over the reasons for the summit, declared less than a week ago, and fears a meddling China is trying to secure another victory for Ma’s Kuomintang party which is lagging badly in the polls.
“We are worried they may sign some secret agreement. This president with only 9% popular support doesn’t represent us. We are afraid of being part of China,” said Peggy Wu, a 28-year-old researcher.
In an island with a strong sense of its own identity, Wu was among those furious over the summit protocol.
The two leaders addressed each other as “mister” instead of “president” in a nod to the fact that neither formally recognises the other.
“China doesn’t see us as an independent nation. Their positions are unequal. We should be addressed as president, not mister,” she said, holding a handmade sign declaring “Go to hell, ‘One-China’ policy.”
At Taipei’s Songshan airport where Ma gave a brief address to reporters before boarding his flight yesterday, protesters tried to burn images of the two leaders with slogans calling Xi “Chinese dictator” and Ma a “traitor”.
The 27 were arrested after they attempted to push their way through a guarded side gate. They included student leader Chen Wei-ting, a key figure in last year’s Sunflower Movement which occupied parliament for almost a month over a controversial trade pact with China.
Television footage showed Chen dragged into a police van while officers with riot shields scuffled with protesters.