Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to visit mainland China next week

We know that the tensions between China and Taiwan are for everyone to see and there is no denying the fact that a small escalation from either side could become a major issue and break out into some kind of war. However, we have a new report from Taiwan which can be clearly seen as a surprise to those who follow the diplomatic situation between these two nations. Taiwan’s former President Ma Ying-jeou announced that he will visit Mainland China in the period between March 27 and April 7.

This announcement from the former President of Taiwan is the first time since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 that a former leader of Taiwan is visiting mainland China. It is worth noting that Ma is in the opposition party Kuomintang which is known to have better ties with Beijing and has also shown a willingness to have talks with their Chinese counterparts as well. If it comes to power, it is very likely that the tensions between China and Taiwan will ease to a great extent but it is to be seen whether the majority of Taiwan’s population likes that or not.

As per Ma’s foundation, his visit to Mainland China will be to pay respects to his ancestors in southwestern Hunan province after which he will lead the student delegation to interact with counterparts from mainland China. While Ma is known to have deeper ties with China, he also kept the unification of China and Taiwan at bay during his tenure as the Taiwanese President.

Ma’s foundation have already said that a meeting with Chinese President is not currently being planned but the Taiwanese Presidential Office have demanded that the itinerary of Ma’s before and after his visit to China should be submitted. Meanwhile, it is also to be noted that the current President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen is planning to visit the US next month and the talks of her meeting with the US House Speaker are doing the rounds in media from quite some time now. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming weeks.