Xi Jinping Talks Unification With Former Taiwan President But Not Everyone Is Cheering

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Taiwan’s former President Ma Ying jeou in Beijing on the last leg of his 11-day visit to China. “There are no knots that cannot be untied, no issues that cannot be discussed, and no forces that can separate us,” said Xi. “Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese. The distance of the Strait cannot sever the bond of kinship between compatriots on both sides.” The meeting with Ma Ying-jeou comes at a time when tensions have been escalating between Beijing and Taipei.

For Ma, who was President of Taiwan between 2008-2016, this is his second visit to China. It’s also the second time he has met with Xi. The setting this time was the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, a venue reserved for talks with foreign leaders, and yet, China’s President did not address Ma Ying-jeou as former President of Taiwan, but simply as Mr Ma. Nothing unusual there as China doesn’t formally recognise the government in Taiwan as it considers it to be a part of China, a claim Taipei has summarily rejected. China has long pushed for Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland and has not ruled out doing it by force.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with the former Taiwan President is being seen as an attempt for peaceful unification.

“The difference in systems does not alter the reality that both sides of the Strait belong to one China and the same Chinese nation,” Xi told the media. “External interference cannot hold back the historical trend of national reunification.”

Taiwan’s outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen has refused to endorse Beijing’s view of ‘one China’ and Beijing has called her deputy and the President-designate Lai Ching-te a dangerous separatist. Even though Ma belongs to the opposition KMT party, he doesn’t hold any post.

What significance does this meeting then have?

According to Wen-Ti Sung, Political Scientist, Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, just ahead of the inauguration of Lai Ching-te, this meeting will enable Beijing to highlight the shared cultural roots between Taiwan, China and also allow Beijing to exert pressure on Taiwan’s next administration as well.

“It’s also going to be a useful data point that Beijing will point to domestically to tell China’s domestic audience that hey, there are still people in Taiwan that like us, that therefore there’s still reason for Beijing to be patient with Taiwan. Maybe this is a good reason to put military evocation option on the back burner for now,” he said.

So do Taiwanese endorse this visit that comes just weeks before Lai Ching-te’s inauguration? In Taipei, there were mixed reactions. 37 year old resident Tang Yu-hsuan said, “The Democratic Progressive Party has been in power for a relatively long time, the current situation between both sides of the strait is quite stiff, so I don’t think there is any harm in having someone in the middle to ease the current situation.”

This isn’t a view shared by Lee Yu, a 30-year old executive at an advertising agency. He felt Ma was more worried about his personal legacy. “In my own opinion, I think that with the current cross-strait situation, in the current international situation, as well considering his position as a former president, the meeting is very inappropriate.”