Taiwanese Ex-President Visits China
In a first, Taiwan’s former leader made a historic visit to China. Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeo visited China, a trip that was criticized by Taiwan’s current ruling party. Ma is the first current or former president of Taiwan to visit China since 1949, when the precursor of today’s China defeated the Republic of China.
According to Reuters, Ma said, “People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese people, and are both descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors.”
Taiwan’s current president, Tsai Ing-wen, has been treated by China as a separatist, though she has offered talks with China.
Ma said, “We sincerely hope that the two sides will work together to pursue peace, avoid war, and strive to revitalize China.”
Meanwhile, Tsai is expected to stop in the United States on the way to and from Central America. U.S. officials have stressed that these stopovers fall within preexisting norms and should not be used by Beijing as pretext for aggressive behavior toward Taiwan. Tsai will arrive in New York on Wednesday. How China and the United States finesse the next several days are expected to determine the extent to which U.S.-China relations deteriorate in the near future.
Despite U.S. efforts, though, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters this week, “The reported trip is not so much a ‘transit,’ but an attempt to seek breakthroughs and propagate ‘Taiwan independence.’”