President Xi Jinping met with former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, which analysts say was an attempt to promote peaceful unification as the only alternative to military annexation of Taiwan.
Ma, who was leading a student delegation to China, met with President Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The Great Hall of the People is usually reserved as a venue for foreign leaders to meet with Chinese officials. Mr. Xi used the meeting to emphasize his belief that Taiwan and China are destined for what he calls “unification.”
According to Taiwanese media, President Xi said, “No outside interference can stop the historic trend of reuniting countries and families.” He said that the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese, and that there is “no grudge that cannot be resolved, no issue that cannot be discussed, no force that can separate us.”
According to local reports, Ma said a war between the two countries would be an “unbearable burden for the Chinese nation.”
“The Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will definitely have enough wisdom to peacefully handle cross-strait disputes and avoid conflicts,” Ma said.
Mr. Xi claims Taiwan is a province of China and has vowed to annex it by force if necessary. During that time, he has presided over a massive campaign of political, economic, and cognitive warfare and near-daily military threats to persuade Taiwan to accept Chinese rule.
However, a majority of Taiwanese people and the Taiwanese government have come to reject this prospect. The opposition Kuomintang (Kuomintang), of which Ma remains a senior member, also rejects unification but insists on closer ties with China as a means of maintaining peace. Ma is one of the most pro-China figures in the party.
Amanda Shao, senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Beijing is trying to put on a friendly face, but will likely weaken the ruling party and the incoming government just weeks after Lai Qingde’s inauguration as president. He said that this may be the case. Beijing despises it. At the same time, he was trying to give the Kuomintang “further evidence that it is the only party that can ease tensions on both sides of the Strait.”
“While some of the messages conveyed during the conference are appealing, other aspects [like] “Claims that the two countries are part of the great Chinese nation will have limited appeal to a larger society that increasingly identifies itself as distinctly Taiwanese,” Hsiao said.
Although Ma retired eight years ago, he remains a visible public figure with social and political influence. Mr. Xi on Wednesday praised Mr. Ma for promoting cross-strait exchanges and opposition to Taiwanese independence.
Wenti Song, a political expert at the Australian National University, said Mr Ma was probably trying to protect his legacy of a friendlier relationship with China. Song said Beijing’s “continued obsession” with Ma suggests that it is unable to develop other senior Taiwanese politicians who “continue to show a dovish attitude toward the Chinese government today.” He said it was possible.
But Beijing is likely using the visit to demonstrate that peaceful unification by “winning hearts and minds” remains its preferred option, he said.
Wednesday’s meeting had been rumored but not confirmed until last minute. It will be the second summit between Mr Xi and Mr Ma, after their landmark summit in Singapore in 2015, when Mr Ma was still president. None of Taiwan’s current leaders have visited China since the end of the civil war in 1949.
Additional reporting by Chi Hui Lin
