Former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou says massacre history holds lessons for both sides of strait

On a visit to mainland China, former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou visited the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanking Massacre on March 29, 2023. Ma said both Beijing and Taipei could draw lessons from Japan’s massacre of Chinese people in 1937 in the city now known as Nanjing. Ma also said people on both sides of the strait should “stay self-reliant” and he warned against all invasions as he urged Beijing and Taipei to find ways to avoid war and instead seek peace. Ma’s remarks came on the third day of his historic yet controversial 12-day visit to the mainland, the first such trip in more than seven decades by a former Taiwanese leader.