Chinese President Xi Jinping Met With A Former Taiwan President And Said A "Family Reunion" Is Inevitable
“Interference from external countries cannot stop the historical trend of the country and family reuniting,” Xi Jinping told Ma Ying-jeou.
Chinese President Xi Jinping held rare talks with a former Taiwanese president who favors close ties with China and said that external influence cannot stop the “family reunion” between the two countries.
Ma Ying-jeou, who served as the president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, met with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, April 10.
At the start of their meeting, Xi praised Ma — who belongs to Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, which advocates for strong relations with China — for his stance against an independent Taiwan, his efforts in fostering relations across the Taiwan Strait and their mutual recognition of a unified “one China”.
“Compatriots on both sides of the strait are Chinese... there are no forces that can separate us,” Xi told Ma, adding that the different systems cannot alter the fact that the two sides belong to the same country.
“Interference from external countries cannot stop the historical trend of the country and family reuniting,” Xi added.
Responding to Xi, Ma said if war breaks out between the two sides, it will be unbearable for the Chinese people.
“Chinese on both sides of the strait absolutely have enough wisdom to handle all disputes peacefully and avoid heading into conflict,” Ma added.
Ma, who is leading a student delegation on an 11-day tour of China, is the first former president of Taiwan to meet with a Chinese president since 1949, when KMT was defeated in China and fled to Taiwan in 1949.
The two had met in Singapore in 2015 before Ma lost to current president Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, which favors independence, in 2016.
Xi and Ma’s latest meeting comes after Taiwan elected Tsai’s vice president Lai Ching-te from the DPP as its new president in January.
Xi has not publicly addressed the election results but has not ruled out forceful reunification with Taiwan – which China claims as its territory — and has increased both political and military pressure on Taiwan over recent months.
Lai, who will assume office on May 20, has stressed he would maintain the status quo and was open to dialogue with China to achieve peace.
