© Reuters. Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou speaks to the media at Taoyuan worldwide airport after concluding his 12-day journey to China in Taoyuan, Taiwan April 7, 2023. REUTERS/I-Hwa Cheng/ File Photograph
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou will make his second journey to China subsequent month, main a gaggle of scholars on an 11-day journey to go to areas together with Beijing, his workplace mentioned on Monday, at a time of continued stress throughout the Taiwan Strait.
Ma, president from 2008 to 2016, final 12 months turned the primary former Taiwanese chief to go to China. For the reason that defeated Republic of China authorities fled to Taiwan in 1949 after shedding a civil struggle to Mao Zedong’s communists, no serving Taiwanese chief has visited China.
China considers democratically-governed Taiwan its personal territory, and has ramped up army and political stress to claim these claims.
Other than Beijing, Ma can even go to the southern province of Guangdong and the northwestern province of Shaanxi, going to historic websites, visiting corporations and main pupil exchanges at Beijing’s elite Peking College and Solar Yat-Sen College in Guangzhou, his workplace mentioned in an announcement.
Requested by reporters about preparations for who Ma would meet whereas there, Ma Ying-jeou Basis director Hsiao Hsu-tsen mentioned they might be “at our hosts’ disposal”.
Ma met Chinese language President Xi Jinping in Singapore in late 2015 shortly earlier than the present Taiwan president, Tsai Ing-wen, gained an election.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Workplace, which referred to him as “Mr. Ma Ying-jeou” fairly than former president given neither the Chinese language nor Taiwanese authorities recognise one another, mentioned it welcomed his go to.
Ma stays a senior member of Taiwan’s predominant opposition social gathering the Kuomintang (KMT), which in January misplaced for the third time in a row the presidential election.
The KMT advocates shut ties with China and dialogue, however strongly denies being pro-Beijing.
Tsai and her ruling Democratic Progressive Get together have repeatedly provided talks with China however been rebuffed, as Beijing views them as harmful separatists.
Tsai says solely Taiwan’s folks can determine their future. Her authorities strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims.