Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday arrived in China with a student delegation on an 11-day trip, which he said would deliver a message of friendship and peace.
Unlike his visit to China last year, this time he plans to stop in Beijing, which has sparked speculation that he could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Reuters has reported that such a meeting is to take place on Monday next week.
Speaking to reporters before boarding his flight at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Ma said that amid current cross-strait tensions, he would try to convey Taiwanese’s love of peace, and voice hope that the two sides can increase exchanges and avoid war.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
“This is a trip of peace and a trip of friendship,” he said.
Having left the presidency eight years ago, and holding no government or political office, “I can only do my best as an individual to promote cross-strait student exchanges, and help reduce enmity and build goodwill between the two sides’ people,” Ma said.
Last week, the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation said that the former president would lead a group of 20 students on a trip to China until Thursday next week.
Photo: Zhao Yan, AFP
The visit is to include meetings with Chinese students, company tours, and trips to sites of historical or cultural significance, it said.
Ma met with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) shortly after arriving in Shenzhen yesterday.
Song relayed a “kind regard to Mr Ma” on Xi’s behalf, while Ma in response said he could feel that between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait “blood is thicker than water.”
Photo courtesy of Ma’s office via CNA
Ma added that peace and stability are needed in cross-strait relations to ensure the well-being of the people on both sides.
The delegation is to spend three days in Guangdong Province, before traveling to Shaanxi Province tomorrow night and Beijing on Sunday, the foundation said.
Ma, who was president from 2008 to 2016, held a historic meeting with Xi in Singapore in 2015, the first gathering of leaders from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Asked last week about the possibility of another such meeting, foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said that Ma hopes there will be an opportunity to “see an old friend,” but would leave the exact arrangements up to the Chinese side, as they are his hosts.
Commenting on Ma’s visit, Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), a professor at the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies at National Sun Yat-sen University, said that to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ma is working right into its “united front” strategy targeting Taiwan.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party also criticized Ma in a news conference in Taipei yesterday, saying that the former president no longer has the mandate of voters and is now a mouthpiece of the CCP.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
DEEP-STRIKE CAPABILITY: The scenario simulated a PLA drill that turned into an assault on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, with the launchers providing fire support Taiwan yesterday conducted this year’s first military exercises at Longsiang Base in Taichung, demonstrating the newly acquired High Mobility Artillery Rocket System’s (HIMARS) ability to provide fire support and deep-strike capabilities. The scenario simulated an attack on Penghu County, with HIMARS trucks immediately rolling into designated launch areas and firing barrages at the Wangan (望安) and Cimei (七美) islands, simulating the provision of fire support against invading forces. The HIMARS are supposed to “fire and leave,” which would significantly increase personnel and equipment survivability, a military official said. The drill simulated an exercise launched by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern
RSS