Chris Patten is right about the "Chinese dinner for two" being historic. The summit between China's president Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart, Ma Ying-jeou took place in Singapore. Yet it is arcane that the city-state didn't foot the bill for this dinner, leaving the two leaders to go Dutch, in order to avoid political sensitivities.

There was quite a lot of fuss over the protocol, as Xi must avoid elevating Ma’s stature to that of an equal, while Ma must avoid making the impression of being subservient. Every word and every move counted, which could give anyone the feeling either was wrong. To avoid conferring any legitimacy on the other’s government, the two leaders addressed each other as "mister" rather than president. The meal for 14 people in a restaurant lasted less than two hours. Seated next to each other at a round table, the two leaders avoided having to choose someone to sit in the "host" position at the top of a rectangular table. They split the bill, because not doing so would give the impression that one was a host and the other a guest, and that they were not meeting on an equal level. This would cause trouble for Ma, because he faced domestic pressure not to give any suggestion that Taiwan was a lesser, weaker party in the talks.

The meeting was the first time two such leaders had come together since Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The civil war ended with a Communist victory and the defeated Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. The last encounter between the two antagonists took place in 1945, when Mao and Chiang met in Chongqing for seven weeks. Ever since the two sides haven't normalised relations, which from time to time smoldered without ever really catching fire. They haven't even signed a peace treaty and in 66 years they have taken very different paths.

Since Ma became president in 2008 "deep commercial ties" were developed between China and Taiwan. But he is on the way out of office and cannot run again. Taiwan will elect a new president in January. His party, the Kuomintang (the Chinese Nationalist Party) "wants to improve relations without surrendering Taiwan’s independence. Its opponent, the Democratic Progressive Party, wants to strike a more autonomous posture." The Taiwanese "cannot be very reassured" by China's promise, based on the principle of “one country, two systems”. They see what happens to Hong Kong, "which was promised the same thing before its return to China in 1997."

It took two years in the making following painstaking negotiations to arrange this historic meeting, which aimed at strengthening ties. It will take decades before the two can overcome their ideological hurdles. Taiwan is a vibrant democracy, yet seen as a "renegade province" by the communist China. Taiwanese will not give up their status quo just to return to China's "fold". Many see the separations between Taiwan and China are much, much deeper than those between the North and South Koreas or the East and West Germanys. The latter are still grappling with challenges of integration.

Patten says "China’s real, long-term intentions are not entirely obvious, and maybe that’s part of its strategy: ambiguous signals play an important role in diplomacy." Meanwhile it shouldn't hurt Beijing to launch charm offensive in Asia, designed to reduce tensions in the region amid territorial disputes between China and the littoral countries to the South China Sea.