IT has become abundantly clear since that famous 81-second handshake that, while the landmark meeting between China's President Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou may not have done much to advance relations across the Taiwan Strait, it certainly did something for the domestic agendas of both leaders.

Mr Xi's encounter with Mr Ma at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore was the first official meeting between leaders on both sides of the strait since the Chinese Nationalist Party - better known by its Chinese name, Kuomintang (KMT) - was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

The usual grand sentiment about blood ties and brotherhood aside, it is clear that both sides held firm to their respective positions. Mr Xi, as expected, proclaimed anew the principle that there can be only "one China". Mr Ma stuck to the position that each side is entitled to interpret what that means. All this was congruent with the "1992 consensus", which refers to an understanding reached in talks that year: while both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is only "one China", each side can define that term as it likes. So, if it was just to recite familiar political stances, the meeting (and the hype that went with it) would have been hardly worth the effort. Clearly then, there was some advantage to be had - for both sides.