National People's Congress Briefs, March 8, 2014

The mainland's top Taiwan affairs negotiator, Chen Deming, said he had "high hopes" for a suggestion that Xi Jinping and Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou meet at a "third-party venue" outside the mainland and Taiwan. Chen said the term "does not necessarily refer to Hong Kong", Taiwan's United Daily News reported. "It could also be other places; [we] need to think about it ." Beijing has seemed cool to talk of a Xi-Ma meeting this year at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, which the capital is hosting. Staff Reporter

Justin Lin Yi-fu, a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate and former World Bank chief economist, warned yesterday that China should be prepared for a possible prolonged period of "external shocks" to its economy. Lin said that developed economies, including Europe, Japan and the United States, have not yet made the reforms necessary to fix their economic problems since the global financial crisis five years ago. Staff Reporter