What’s new: Former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou will make his second ever trip to the Chinese mainland in April, during which he will visit Beijing for the first time, mainland authorities announced Monday.
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (TAO) welcomed Ma’s visit, spokesperson Chen Binhua said in a statement Monday. Beijing hopes the two sides can jointly promote exchanges and cooperation and advance the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, Chen added.
During his 11-day tour beginning April 1, Ma will lead a group of students from Taiwan to Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces, apart from Beijing, the statement said. They will also attend a ceremony to pay respect to China’s mythical ancestor Huangdi, which is set to take place in northwestern province Shaanxi during the Qingming Festival.
The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation confirmed the trip on Monday and said Ma will visit Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and Peking University in Beijing during his tour, according to Taiwan media reports.
The background: Ma first visited the mainland last March and April, when he paid respect to his ancestors in Hunan province and took a delegation of Taiwanese youth to cities including Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing and Chongqing.
Ma’s second visit comes after Taiwan elected the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te as its new leader in January. Following the election result, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it will not change the “basic fact” that Taiwan is part of China and warned that the pursuit of Taiwan’s independence is a “dead-end road.”
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
