Opinion | Taiwan’s Tsai-Ma balancing act is an urgent reminder of the need for cross-strait calm

There are no coincidences in high-stakes politics. The timing of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s 10-day trip abroad was definitely not left to mere chance.

Tsai’s trip to Central America has facilitated stops in the United States that Washington denies violate the “one-China” policy. At the same time, her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou is making a historic 12-day visit to mainland China.

While this is Tsai’s seventh “transit” through the US since taking office in 2016 and most likely her last, Ma’s mainland visit is the first by a former Taiwanese leader since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. This is one of the most highly orchestrated balancing acts in cross-strait relations.

Having Tsai’s US “stopover”, which was bound to trigger an angry response from Beijing, overlap with Ma’s peace-talking mainland visit, during which he will pay his respects to his ancestors during the annual tomb-sweeping Ching Ming Festival, is an incredible feat pulled off by the Tsai-Ma tag team to avoid a worst-case scenario.

Recall that Tsai’s government barred Ma from visiting Hong Kong in the summer of 2016 as the guest of honour at a news award ceremony, citing national security concerns. Given that, Ma’s historic trip to the mainland would have involved more than a few willing parties.

Ma issued a message of peace in front of the Sun Yat-sen mausoleum in Nanjing, calling on people on both sides of the strait to work together because “we are all Chinese” and “descendants of the Yan and Yellow emperors”. His message stands in sharp contrast to Tsai’s US layover.