(TotalConservative.com) – Ma Ying-jeou, the former president of Taiwan, is set to visit China in April with a group of students, marking the second trip by the former Taiwanese leader who is the first to visit since the 1949 Civil War.
Ma will embark on an 11-day trip across China next month to lead a group of students across the nation to visit various locations, including Beijing and notable historic sites. The trip comes amid ongoing tensions between Taiwan and China along the Taiwan Strait.
Ma served as president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, and his first visit to China last year marked the first occasion that a Taiwanese leader has visited China since the Communist Party of Mao Zedong defeated the Republic of China (ROC) central government, which fled to Taiwan after the civil war in 1949. China still considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has continued to put political and military pressure on the island nation to reclaim control under the watchful eyes of American diplomatic relations.
The 11-day journey will not only stop in Beijing but also in the province of Shaanxi in the northwest and Guangdong in southern China. According to an official statement from his office, Ma will visit leading Chinese companies as well as student exchange programs at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou and Perking University in Beijing.
Because the two governments do not recognize one another, the Taiwan Affairs Office in China referred to the former Taiwanese president as “Mr. Ma Ying-jeou” instead of the formal title of “former president.”
Ma’s political party, the Kuomintang (KMT) (in which he remains active), lost for the third time in January to the current president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen. The KMT promotes maintaining ties and open dialogue with China while denying a pro-Beijing stance. Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party is viewed by Beijing as a radical separatist party. China has refused offers to talk.
Tsai’s government is strongly opposed to the sovereignty claims of China while maintaining closer ties to the US. Last year, she met with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California to discuss relations between America and Taiwan.
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