Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou to go to China in landmark journey

Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will go to China this month, his workplace stated on Sunday, the primary time a former or present Taiwanese chief has visited because the defeated Republic of China authorities fled to the island in 1949.

The journey will likely be at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei as China retains up its army and political strain to try to get democratically-elected Taiwan to just accept Chinese language sovereignty.

Ma, who stays a senior member of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) opposition social gathering, held a landmark assembly with Chinese language President Xi Jinping in Singapore in late 2015, shortly earlier than present Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was elected.

Ma’s workplace stated that he would go to China from March 27 to April 7 and go to the cities of Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing and Shanghai.

He’ll meet college students and go to websites related to World Struggle Two and China’s battle with Japan in addition to these associated to the 1911 revolution which overthrew the final Chinese language emperor and ushered within the Republic of China, his workplace stated.

The Republic of China stays Taiwan’s official title.

It didn’t say if he would meet any Chinese language officers or leaders, together with whether or not he would meet Xi.

The KMT, which historically favors shut ties with China however strongly denies being pro-Beijing, has been stepping up its engagement with China since each China and Taiwan eased COVID-related journey restrictions.

Final month the KMT’s deputy chairman Andrew Hsia visited Beijing and met with senior Communist Occasion chief Wang Huning.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Occasion (DPP) seized on Hsia’s China journey to assault the KMT for being too near Beijing and desirous to promote out Taiwan, and criticized Hsia for going to “pay court docket to the communists.”

The KMT says you will need to maintain traces of communication open with China, particularly given the present tensions.

China has rebuffed repeated calls from Tsai for talks, believing her to be a separatist.

She says solely Taiwan’s folks can determine their future and rejects China’s sovereignty claims.