The News
Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, the climax of a multi-day visit to the mainland where Ma hoped to quell cross-strait tensions that have flared in recent months.
The 73-year-old former leader of the Kuomintang party — which favors closer ties with China — has described his visit as a “journey of peace”. It comes ahead of next month’s inauguration of President-elect Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing considers a separatist.
During the highly choreographed meeting, Ma described the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) quest for Taiwanese sovereignty as dangerous, while Xi reiterated Beijing’s goal of a peaceful reunification with the self-governing island, which China considers a renegade province.
“If a war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be an unbearable burden for the Chinese nation,” Ma said.
However, at one point he appeared to refer to Taiwan as the “Republic of China” — the official name for the island, which China does not recognize — causing mainland TV to quickly cut away from the meeting.
While Ma still has influence within the KMT, some in the party have tried to distance themselves in recent weeks following the party’s election loss in January.
Experts said Wednesday’s meeting was mostly symbolic, but the optics of China welcoming a former Taiwan leader may help Beijing in its bid to show Washington that it is still willing to consider a peaceful resolution on the issue.
SIGNALS
Ma doesn’t represent how Taiwanese youth view China
In the meeting, Ma stressed the “natural” cultural exchange between Taiwanese and Chinese youth, but his comments fail to reflect “how unfamiliar Taiwanese young people are with Chinese culture,” political scientist Yang Jingjing wrote for Taiwan’s FTNN News. Years of political divergence means that Chinese and Taiwanese youth differ greatly in everything from language to social customs, with Taiwanese social media influencers often describing feelings of culture shock when visiting the mainland. Unlike young Taiwanese, “Ma Ying-jeou regards the [Chinese Communist Party] as a family member,” Yang wrote, and the meeting with Xi was more about Ma wanting to “make his own mark on history” rather than representing Taiwanese youth.
China wants to reassure US of peaceful approach
The meeting comes the day before a White House summit with Japan and the Philippines, with Xi likely using his talks with Ma “to send a reassuring signal to Washington at a time of geopolitical turmoil,” The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a former KMT national security official. Xi wants to reassure U.S. President Joe Biden that his approach to Taiwan “is still peaceful,” the official said, according to the WSJ. While Ma’s deferential posture towards Xi has been negatively received in Taiwan — and likely contributed to the KMT’s electoral defeat in January — many observers see the former leader as “Beijing’s best bet for promoting its goal of peaceful reunification,” the WSJ said.
Only handful of Taiwanese media allowed at meeting
The meeting lacked transparency compared with previous talks, Brian Hioe, the editor of a magazine that covers youth activism in Taiwan, wrote on X, saying Beijing was “not exactly allowing free coverage.” Only five Taiwanese media outlets — all of them slanting pro-KMT — were given access to the meeting, according to Mirror Media. Hioe noted that many news outlets were forced to use photos from a prior meeting in 2015. While the meeting is ultimately “much ado about nothing,” Hioe said, it could become more significant if the KMT continues to circumvent the incoming Democratic Progressive Party-led government by holding talks with Beijing.