Robert Besser
24 Mar 2023, 14:33 GMT+10
TAIPEI, Taiwan: In an effort to ease tensions between Taiwan and China, former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou will visit Beijing next week.
During Ma's presidency, Taiwan had warmer ties with Beijing, but he left office amid the island's largest protests since the 1990s, after a trade deal with the mainland failed to win approval.
Official communications between the two governments is currently non-existent, as China's People Liberation Army sends fighter jets to approach Taiwan on a near daily basis.
Despite Taiwan's governing Democratic Progressive Party's stressing that the island is already its own sovereign state, China's ruling government claims the island as part of its territory.
A member of the opposition Nationalist Party (Kuomingtang), Ma will head the visit of the delegation from from 27th March to 7th April, which will include academics and students, as well as his former presidential staffers, his office announced.
The office of President Tsai Ing-wen said Ma had notified her of his plans this week, adding that it "hoped Ma, in his role as the former head of state, can show the value of Taiwan's democracy and freedom and the position of equality and dignity in cross-strait exchanges."
Ma's trip was also confirmed by China's Taiwan Affairs Office.
Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore who studies Chinese foreign policy, said that any outcomes of the visit are likely to be symbolic and will mostly benefit China.
"Then they can show they are not against Taiwan, they are not against the Taiwanese people," he said, adding that he did not think it was likely the trip would influence Taiwan's presidential elections next year.
Members of the Kuomingtang regularly have exchanges with China. Andrew Hsia, vice chairman of the Kuomingtang, went on a 10-day tour of China in February and met with the head of the Taiwan Affairs Office, while Taipei Mayor Chiang Wang-an hosted Shanghai city officials in February and discussed exchanges in culture, sports and tourism.
Get a daily dose of Irish Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Irish Sun.
More InformationVICTORIA, Texas: This week, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton in Victoria, Texas, ruled that President Joe Biden did not have ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is investigating a JetBlue flight on Monday that experienced sudden ...
SEOUL, South Korea: Marking a tougher stand against North Korea, South Korea held its first large-scale military parade in over ...
WASHINGTON D.C. After hundreds of deaths overseas from contaminated cough syrups, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cracked ...
EL PASO, Texas: Over the weekend, Oscar Leeser, Mayor of El Paso, said that the surge in migrants crossing the ...
HONG KONG: This week, Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was sentenced to five days jail for ...
As it did last year, the 2023 United Nations General Assembly has been debating what role the United Nations and ...
OTTAWA, Canada: During a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Canada's capital, Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has raised concerns over an escalating safety issue involving unruly passengers, which is ...
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced Friday a bipartisan resolution calling for the immediate release by Russia of two ...
(Photo credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports) South Korea's Hae Ran Ryu made five birdies in a six-hole stretch to rush ...
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has called in the military to quell an unprecedented wave of violent crimeCriminals in Sweden aren't ...