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Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou plans to go to China from March 27 till April 7, changing into the primary former or sitting chief of the democratic island to go to the Chinese language mainland, his workplace confirmed.
He’ll embark on the journey amid tensions throughout the Taiwan Strait as China intensifies stress on Taiwan forward of the subsequent presidential election there, in January 2024.
Ma served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 till 2016 and stays a senior member of Kuomintang, or KMT, which dominated Taiwan for a very long time and now’s the primary opposition social gathering. The Republic of China (ROC) is the official title of Taiwan.
Beijing considers Taiwan a Chinese language province that needs to be reunified with the mainland however the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Social gathering considers Taiwan an unbiased and sovereign nation and rejects the “One China Precept,” which says “there is just one China on this planet.”
The Ma Ying-jeou Tradition and Schooling Basis confirmed on Sunday that Ma deliberate to go to a number of Chinese language cities, together with Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing and Shanghai.
It stated the primary goal of his journey to China was for Ma to worship his ancestors in the course of the upcoming conventional Tomb Sweeping Competition, or Qingming Competition in Chinese language.
Ma may even deliver a bunch of Taiwanese college students for an trade program with their Chinese language counterparts, in addition to go to historic websites associated to Solar Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China, and the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1937-1945).
Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Workplace, informed the media on Monday that Beijing welcomed Ma’s go to as “worshiping ancestors on Qingming Competition is a standard customized of compatriots on each side of the strait.”
“We are going to present mandatory help for Mr. Ma Ying-jeou’s go to and want him all the perfect for his journey,” the spokesman stated.
Ma Xiaoguang additionally stated that strengthening exchanges between younger individuals “can add new energy and inject youthful vitality into the peaceable growth of cross-strait relations.”
Boosting peaceable cross-strait relations
In keeping with Xiao Xucen, govt director of the Ma Ying-jeou Basis, Ma Ying-jeou’s go to will assist promote peace within the Taiwan Strait.
“Communications between the 2 sides of the Taiwan Strait have been frozen in recent times,” Xiao informed a information briefing on Monday. “If younger persons are allowed to attach and get to know one another higher, that can undoubtedly scale back the present rigidity.”
The workplace of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, in the meantime, stated it has not but acquired any report about Ma’s journey to China.
Chen Ting-fei, a lawmaker from Tsai’s ruling social gathering, stated Ma solely might symbolize himself and never the 23 million individuals in Taiwan, including she couldn’t determine what position Ma would play throughout his journey to China.
It’s unclear whether or not Ma Ying-jeou will meet with President Xi Jinping or any senior Chinese language official in the course of the journey. Ma beforehand met with Xi in Singapore in 2015.
The KMT was defeated by the Communist Social gathering within the Chinese language Civil Conflict and needed to transfer the ROC authorities to Taiwan in 1949. The Kuomintang is taken into account to be supportive of a better relationship between Taiwan and mainland China.
“Ma Ying-jeou’s go to could also be supposed to steer voters that the KMT can promote dialogue and take the lead in easing cross-strait tensions,” stated Yoshiyuki Ogasawara, a Japanese political scientist and professional on Taiwan’s politics.
“The Democratic Progressive Social gathering will criticize Ma’s go to and amplify the narrative that ‘Kuomintang is pro-China.’ There may be additionally a chance that the US, which takes a powerful stance towards China, will warn towards the KMT,” stated Ogasawara, a professor on the College of World Research on the Tokyo College of International Research.
“The impression on Taiwanese voters will depend upon how Ma Ying-jeou’s go to is being analyzed and mentioned. Most individuals in Taiwan are of the view that they reject unification [with the mainland] however help dialogue with China,” the analyst stated.
Ma, who turns 73 in July, is “the one high-ranking Taiwanese official that has by no means been to mainland China regardless of being engaged in cross-strait relations for greater than forty years,” stated Ma Ying-jeou Basis’s Xiao Xucen.
Below the provisions of Taiwan’s Nationwide Secrets and techniques Act, former presidents are topic to exit restrictions for 5 years after leaving workplace.
It has been greater than 5 years in Ma’s case however in response to the Cross-strait Folks’s Relations Ordinance, he should submit an utility for a mainland go to two days earlier than departure and submit a report inside seven days after returning to Taiwan.
Eva Xia for RFA Mandarin contributed to this report from Taipei.
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