Ma Really Thinks Xi and he Should Meet Up

choi

Carrie Gracie, Taiwan President Rues Lack of Progress with China. BBC, July 26, 2015.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-33649127

Quote:

"Ma Ying-jeou said he was disappointed that despite improvements in the economic relationship during his two terms as president, there had been no meeting between himself and President Xi Jinping of China.

"The first time I visited Taiwan in the early 1990s, there were no direct flights from Beijing. Along with everyone else, I had to make a long-distance dog-leg via Hong Kong.  In those days, Beijing was still a low-rise city of coal dust, brick alleys and bicycles. Taipei felt glossy and high-rise by comparison. How things have changed.

"And he 0Ma] told me he was disappointed that after two terms of working hard to improve relations with the mainland, Beijing is still resisting a face-to-face meeting.  'Of course we are not clear about the decision-making process, but I believe it was Mr Xi who made the final decision.'
Note:
(a) dogleg (adj, n)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dog-leg
(b) "China bestrides the global economy."

bestride
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bestride