Former Taiwan Leader visits mainland China
Ma Ying-jeou, leading a delegation from Taiwan, arrived in Shanghai on Monday afternoon to start a visit to the Chinese mainland until April 7, making him the first former leader of the island to visit the mainland.
Former Taiwan Leader visits mainland China
Geurasia

Former Taiwan Leader visits mainland China

Photo: AFP
Eurasia 29/03/2023 07:30

Ma Ying-jeou, leading a delegation from Taiwan, is the first former leader of the island to visit the mainland. During the trip, Ma will worship his ancestors on the occasion of Tomb Sweeping Day, and lead young Taiwan students to strengthen exchanges with their mainland counterparts. The delegation will also visit other mainland cities including Wuhan, Changsha and Chongqing.

Former Taiwan regional leader Ma Ying-jeou landed in Shanghai on Monday afternoon, kicking off an ancestral trip in the mainland, which experts viewed as being of special significance to easing the tensions across the Taiwan Straits and enhancing exchanges, Global Times reported.

Furthermore, Ma's itinerary shows the deep historical, political and cultural ties between Taiwan and the mainland, outlining the fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one and the same China.

The first ever mainland trip by Ma, former president of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, is also the first to the mainland by a former Taiwan regional leader since 1949.

Ma arrived in Shanghai Monday afternoon and then left for Nanjing. He was greeted by Chen Yuanfeng, deputy director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and senior officials from CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee at the airport.
Photo: iStock
Ma will pay respects to his ancestors on the Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day in Changsha, and lead a group of Taiwan students for communication and exchange activities in the mainland cities of Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing and Shanghai. 

They are also scheduled to visit historical sites where the KMT participated in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), including Sihang Warehouse Battle Memorial in Shanghai, Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, and the Chongqing Anti-Japanese War Heritage Museum.

Ma served as the island leader between 2008 and 2016, during which the two sides of the Taiwan Straits saw wide exchanges and cooperation on the basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and opposing "Taiwan independence".

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