China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) yesterday accompanied former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to Changsha, China, where Ma visited his mother’s former school.
The two took a high-speed train from Wuhan to the capital of Hunan Province, sitting across from each other with reporters on either side.
Song introduced the design features of the train, to which Ma replied: “It’s very spacious, very comfortable.”
Photo: CNA
Ma was on his way to visit Zhounan High School, his late mother’s alma mater. The visit was not open to the media.
Ma is expected to travel to his ancestral home of Baishi in Hunan’s Xiangtan County today, where he would pay respects to his ancestors.
During their previous meeting on Thursday, Song emphasized shared cultural links with Ma, the first former Taiwanese president to travel to China.
Song also called for “boosting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” while opposing “foreign interference,” a veiled reference to US support for Taiwan.
The comments underscored China’s efforts to bolster ties with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections.
Last month, Song met KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) while he was visiting China.
Beijing is trying to counter perceptions that it is becoming reckless amid increased geopolitical tensions.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) told business and government leaders at the Boao Forum for Asia on Thursday that his nation was committed to peace.
On Tuesday, China Central Television (CCTV) censored all mentions of the Republic of China (ROC) Ma made during his visit to Nanjing.
During his visit to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ma mentioned the ROC four times: once during a tribute to ROC founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), once in a public statement he gave in the compound, and twice when stating the dates of his visit and Sun’s passing.
At the mausoleum, he also displayed a piece of calligraphy he created, which he dated 2023, as well as 112, the equivalent year on the ROC calendar.
Those parts were not shown in CCTV’s coverage of Ma’s visit to the mausoleum.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) of the Democratic Progressive Party said that at a meeting between Ma and Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party Municipal Committee Secretary Xin Changxing (信長星), Ma was referred to as a “former leader of the Taiwan region” and “Mr Ma” after Ma called himself a “former Taiwan president.”
Xin belittled the nation and its former president, Chen said.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Wednesday described those criticisms as “nitpicking.”
Ma highlighted the ROC on several occasions and called himself a former president and therefore stood his ground, Chu said.
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