Ex-Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou starts ‘journey of peace’ in mainland China

Ma is leading a group of students on his second visit in a year, amid rising cross-strait tensions

He will reportedly meet President Xi Jinping next week, but neither side has confirmed the meeting

Reading Time:4 minutes

Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou waves from the Taoyuan International Airport as he leaves for an 11-day trip to mainland China on Monday. Photo: AP

Published: 7:40pm, 1 Apr 2024Updated: 8:00pm, 2 Apr 2024

Corrected [7:58pm, 2 Apr, 2024]

[7:58pm, 2 Apr, 2024]
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Ma Ying-jeou visited electric vehicle maker BYD Auto on Monday. The visit took place on Tuesday.

Former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou is visiting mainland China on what he calls a “journey of peace” at a time when tensions are soaring across the strait.

The 11-day trip is Ma’s second visit in 12 months and comes ahead of the May 20 inauguration of president-elect William Lai Ching-te – described by Beijing as a “separatist” whose leadership could bring war to the island.

Ma – who is still seen as an influential figure in Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly camp and remains a senior member of the opposition Kuomintang – will reportedly meet President Xi Jinping next Monday, but neither side has confirmed the meeting. The pair last met in 2015 in Singapore when Ma was Taiwanese president, the first such summit since the two sides split in 1949.

On Monday, Hsiao Hsu-tsen, executive director of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, said Ma hoped to meet his “old friend” Xi, but it was “up to the arrangement of the mainland side”.

Before he left for Shenzhen on Monday, Ma told reporters at the airport that his trip would be “a journey of peace and a journey of friendship”.

“In the face of the increasingly tense situation in the Taiwan Strait, I hope we can convey the sentiments of the Taiwanese people that they love peace, hope for cross-strait exchanges and hope to avoid war,” said Ma, who is leading a group of 20 students on the tour.

Ma said that – as he did last year when he led 50 students on a trip to the mainland – he aimed to promote youth exchanges between the two sides as he believed such interaction could help to “reduce cross-strait hostility and accumulate goodwill”.

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