Chinese leader Xi Jinping held rare talks on Wednesday with a former president of Taiwan who supports closer ties with China, a highly unusual meeting just weeks before the democratic island swears in a new leader Beijing openly loathes. <\/p>\n
Ma Ying-jeou, who led Taiwan from 2008 to 2016 and is currently in Beijing on an 11-day tour across China, met Xi on Wednesday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV reported. <\/p>\n
The\u00a0carefully choregraphed moment\u00a0is steeped in political symbolism: it\u2019s the\u00a0first time a former president of Taiwan has been hosted by China\u2019s top leader in Beijing since Chiang Kai-shek\u2019s\u00a0Kuomintang (KMT) fled to Taipei in 1949. <\/p>\n
It is also the\u00a0first meeting between Xi and former KMT leader Ma, since their historic summit in Singapore in 2015. <\/p>\n
But their reunion also highlights the widening political divide across the Taiwan Strait \u2013 and how Xi\u2019s ever more aggressive posture toward Taipei has driven more Taiwanese away from China. <\/p>\n
In his opening remarks, Xi praised Ma for opposing \u201cTaiwan independence\u201d, promoting cross-strait exchanges and agreeing that both sides of the strait belong to \u201cone China.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cCompatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese people. There is no grudge that cannot be resolved, no issue that cannot be discussed and no force that can separate us,\u201d Xi told his guest. \u201cExternal interference cannot stop the historic trend of the reunion of the family and the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
In response, Ma said that although two sides of the strait developed under different systems, the people both belong to the Chinese nation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf a war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be an unbearable burden for the Chinese nation,\u201d he said. \u201cI sincerely hope that both sides respect the values and way of life treasured by the people and maintain peace across the strait.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the appeal of a shared Chinese identity has waned considerably in Taiwan as Xi ramps up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on its democratic island neigbor. <\/p>\n
That trend was underscored in January, when Taiwanese voters shrugged off warnings by China and handed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a historic third term by electing Lai Ching-te, who has long faced Beijing\u2019s wrath for championing Taiwan\u2019s sovereignty. <\/p>\n
Since then, Beijing has poached another of Taipei\u2019s dwindling number of diplomatic allies and ramped up patrols around Taiwan\u2019s frontline islands after two Chinese fishermen drowned in nearby waters, while continuing to fly its fighter jets near the self-ruled island. <\/p>\n
Ma\u2019s meeting with Xi also coincides with a frenetic week of diplomatic activity in Washington where President Joe Biden will host the first-ever leaders\u2019 summit between the US,\u00a0Japan\u00a0and the Philippines. Joint concerns over China\u2019s increasing assertiveness under Xi, including toward Taiwan, are a key driver of that summit. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s pressure tactics are intended to nudge Taiwan\u2019s incoming Lai administration toward a more accommodating political stance toward China, said Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst for the International Crisis Group. <\/p>\n
\u201cMa\u2019s visit continues this effort by underscoring Beijing\u2019s position that cross-strait dialogue is only possible with those in Taiwan who accept the idea that the two sides of the strait belong to \u2018one China,\u2019\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Beijing has cut off high-level official contacts with Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen from the DPP took office in 2016, riding a wave of anger over Ma\u2019s controversial trade deal with Beijing and capitalizing on the growing number of Taiwanese voters determined to maintain the island\u2019s distinct identity. <\/p>\n
Unlike the KMT, the DPP rejects Beijing\u2019s precondition for official talks \u2013 an agreement under which both sides accept there is \u201cone China,\u201d with their own interpretations on what that means. <\/p>\n
Official communication is unlikely to resume for Lai, who has vowed to follow Tsai\u2019s cross-strait policies. Beijing has repeatedly rebuked Lai\u2019s offer for talks and denounced him as a dangerous separatist and \u201ctroublemaker.\u201d <\/p>\n
But by fixating on Ma, who has been out of office for years and wields little power to shape Taiwan\u2019s political reality, Beijing may be revealing \u201cits\u00a0inability to find or cultivate another Taiwanese political figure of comparable stature who is willing to play dove toward Beijing today,\u201d said Wen-Ti Sung, a Taiwan-based fellow with the Atlantic Council\u2019s Global China Hub. <\/p>\n
Ma is becoming something of a frequent flyer to the Chinese mainland. <\/p>\n
The 73-year-old became the first former president of Taiwan to set foot on the mainland in late March last year, when he embarked on a 12-day trip across the Taiwan Strait. But he failed to win an audience with any\u00a0leader on the Politburo Standing Committee, Beijing\u2019s innermost ring of power. <\/p>\n
Like last time, this year\u2019s visit was timed to overlap with Qingming Festival \u2013 traditionally a time for people to pay tribute to deceased family members and worship their ancestors; it also comes just weeks before Lai\u2019s inauguration as Taiwan\u2019s president on May 20. <\/p>\n
\u201cA meeting at this juncture enables Beijing to highlight the shared cultural roots between Taiwan and China, and to exert pressure on Taiwan\u2019s next administration,\u201d Sung said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeijing is using this meeting between Xi and Ma to underscore the credibility and durability of its carrots \u2013 that Beijing is good to its friends, incumbent or retired.\u00a0It signals to political leaders around the world that befriending Beijing is a worthwhile long-term investment.\u201d <\/p>\n
China\u2019s receptivity towards Ma\u2019s visit is also a signal to Taiwan and others that peaceful unification through winning over hearts and minds remains Beijing\u2019s preferred option \u2013 at least for now, despite festering cross-strait tensions, Sung added. <\/p>\n
And carefully curated footage of the talks \u2013 expected to reach millions of homes on prime-time television news in China \u2013 also serves as a message to the Chinese public that unification with Taiwan is still possible despite the DPP\u2019s historic election victory. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor Beijing, Ma\u2019s visit is also a useful way of assuring its domestic audience \u2013 \u2018We have not lost the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people, there remains cultural and historical connections that bind us, and the DPP does not represent mainstream Taiwanese views,\u2019\u201d said Hsiao, the analyst. <\/p>\n
Ma, who is traveling in a personal capacity, called his trip a \u201cjourney of peace and friendship\u201d before departing for the mainland with a delegation of Taiwanese students. <\/p>\n
He has received effusive coverage from Chinese state media, which referred to him simply as \u201cMr. Ma Ying-jeou\u201d or former chairman of the KMT, with no mention of his former role as the president of Taiwan. <\/p>\n
In the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, he bowed in front of a memorial honoring a failed uprising against the Qing Dynasty launched by Sun Yat-sen, who founded the Republic of China (now the official name of Taiwan). Sun is regarded as the father of modern China on both sides of the strait. <\/p>\n
In the northwest province of Shaanxi,\u00a0Ma attended a ceremony to honor the Yellow Emperor, a legendary ancestor of the Chinese people, and urged young people in Taiwan to \u201cremember the roots of Chinese culture and the Chinese nation.\u201d <\/p>\n
On the Great Wall in Beijing, he sang a Chinese patriotic song about the fight against Japanese invaders during the Second World War. The song, composed soon after the invasion started, was popular among both the Communists and Nationalists. <\/p>\n
But his emphasis on a shared Chinese identity is increasingly out of tune with mainstream sentiment in Taiwan, where less than 3% of the population now identify primarily as Chinese, and under 10% support an immediate or eventual unification. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile polls show growing numbers of people \u2013 especially younger voters \u2013 view themselves as distinctly Taiwanese and have no desire to be part of China. <\/p>\n
Ma\u2019s itinerary \u2013 and his meeting with Xi \u2013 has been closely watched in Taiwan. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe ruling party DPP will likely play down the significance of Ma\u2019s China visits, preferring to describe it as the private act of tourism by a retiree,\u201d said Sung, with the Atlantic Council. <\/p>\n
\u201cTaiwan\u2019s opposition KMT will be torn \u2013 it wishes to celebrate Ma\u2019s achievements with Beijing, but is also hesitant to flaunt it in the face of the Taiwanese electorate, which remains wary about closer cross-strait ties.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ma remains a senior member of the KMT, which won the most seats in Taiwan\u2019s parliamentary elections in January, but failed to capture the presidency for the third time running. <\/p>\n
As the biggest opposition party, the KMT is eager to show they are more capable of managing relations with both China and the United States, but Ma\u2019s meeting may do more harm than help, said James Chen, an assistant professor in diplomacy and international relations at Taiwan\u2019s Tamkang University. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe DPP and its supporters have questioned Ma\u2019s loyalty at home and labels the KMT (as) pro-China. Washington, especially Capitol Hill, may not appreciate Ma\u2019s trip to China under the bipartisan anti-China sentiment,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Few experts believe the meeting will result in any substantial change to the status quo in cross-strait relations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe value of this meeting is primarily in its symbolism \u2013 an attempt to shape the cross-strait narrative to both parties\u2019 favor while fundamental political differences remain,\u201d said Hsiao, from International Crisis Group. <\/p>\n
But for Ma, the meeting will cement his legacy on cross-strait policy regardless of its outcome. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe likely wishes to be remembered as the sole Taiwanese leader who can break the ice with Beijing,\u201d Sung said. <\/p>\n\n
Chinese leader Xi Jinping held rare talks on Wednesday with a former president of Taiwan who supports closer ties with China, a highly unusual meeting just weeks before the democratic island swears in a new leader Beijing openly loathes. Ma Ying-jeou, who led Taiwan from 2008 to 2016 and is currently in Beijing on an <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}