Ma Ying-jeou will be the first leader to visit China later this month
The defeated Republic of China govt fled to Taiwan in 1949, and China on Monday welcomed the impending visit of former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou to the mainland later this month.
This will be the first time a previous or current island leader has visited China since then.
Ma’s visit, which his office in Taiwan announced late on Sunday night, comes against the backdrop of heightened hostilities between Beijing and Taipei as China quickly increases its military activities surrounding the self-governing democracy to pressure Taiwan to recognise the mainland’s sovereignty.
Beijing refers to it as a breakaway entity but has never ruled out using force to annex it to the mainland.
Ma Ying-visit jeou’s is welcomed by the mainland, as per the statement released Monday by the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Taiwan Relations Office.
The announcement read, “Ma Ying-jeou will lead a group to the mainland on March 27 to pay respect to his forefathers and share views.
Before the Qingming or Tomb Sweeping festival, when Chinese people gather for prayer services to remember ancestors, Ma will pay tribute to the dead.
It is unknown at this time whether Ma will meet with any members of the senior leadership of China; the itinerary provided by his office does not include a trip to Beijing.
The mainland’s Taiwan office, according to Ma Xiaoguang, welcomes Ma to honour his ancestors and run a student exchange programme.
The spokeswoman added, “We are happy to provide the necessary assistance for Mr Ma Ying-visit jeou’s and wish him well on his tour,” adding, “The Qingming Festival ancestral worship is a common practice of countrymen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
According to the former president Ma’s office in Taiwan, he will travel to Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, and Shanghai, all in central, southwest, and eastern China, during his tour to China from March 27 to April 7.
In late 2015, just before the current Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was elected, Ma, a prominent member of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) opposition party, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore.
According to Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, Ma’s visit to China is “…aimed at worshipping his ancestors even during the upcoming Qingming or Tomb Sweeping Festival, and he’ll lead a delegation made up of Taiwanese students to make exchanges with their Chinese counterparts, and also visit historical sites related to the Revolution of 1911 led by Republic of China (ROC) Founding Father Sun Yat-sen, as well as the Sino-Japanese War from 1937-1945.”
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