On Tuesday (Mar 28), former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou stated at the beginning of his historic visit to China that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ethnically Chinese and share the same ancestor.
Taiwan’s ruling party has criticized his visit. Ma is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists.
His visit comes amid heightened tension as Beijing uses political and military means to pressure democratically governed Taiwan into accepting Chinese sovereignty. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan has questioned why Ma is visiting just after China took away another Taiwanese diplomatic ally, Honduras, on Sunday, leaving the island with official diplomatic ties with only 13 countries.
Ma praised Sun’s contributions at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing. Sun is buried there, and he is celebrated for overthrowing the last Chinese emperor in 1911 and ushering in a republic.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese people, and are both descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors,” Ma said, in comments provided by his office.Most Taiwanese no longer identify as Chinese, according to polls.
The Republic of China, which remains Taiwan’s official name, officially considers Sun as the father of the nation.
Sun is also lauded by the Communist Party for the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, but the governments in Beijing and Taipei do not recognize each other.
Ma’s visit is part of outreach by Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), to China in hopes of reducing tensions. The KMT traditionally favours close relations with China, but strongly denies being pro-Beijing.
Tsai Ing-wen and China
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly offered talks with China, but has been rejected as China considers her a separatist. She says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Ma used wording in Chinese meaning people of Chinese ethnicity, rather than referring to their nationality. Descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors is an expression referring to a common ancestor for Chinese people.Ma, a senior KMT member, said he hoped for peace
“We sincerely hope that the two sides will work together to pursue peace, avoid war, and strive to revitalise China,” he said, again using an expression that refers to the Chinese people as an ethnicity rather than a nationality. “This is an unavoidable responsibility of Chinese people on both sides of the Strait, and we must work hard.”
There are no scheduled meetings between Ma and any senior Chinese leaders on this trip.He and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Singapore in 2015. – remove passive voice from the entire text