“No forces that can separate us” — Diego Ramos reports on the friendly reception by the Chinese leader on Wednesday of Ma Ying-jeou’s “journey of peace.”
China’s President Xi Jinping addressing journalists at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct 23, 2022. (China News Service, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)
By Diego Ramos
ScheerPost
In a historic meeting marking mainland China’s first reception of a former or serving Taiwanese president, President Xi Jinping and former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou engaged in a dialogue of peace and unity in Beijing on Wednesday.
Amidst heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, mentions of war are commonplace but according to Ma, “If there’s war, it would be unbearable to the Chinese nation, and the two sides of the [Taiwan] strait have the wisdom to handle their disputes peacefully.”
This echoes Xi’s assertion that the two governments can converse and resolve issues:
“Compatriots on the two sides are both Chinese. There is no grudge that cannot be resolved. No problem that cannot be talked through. And there are no forces that can separate us.”
Xi, alluding to reunification, also made reference to “foreign interference,” which, according to him, could not get in the way of a “family reunion.”
The meeting comes a month before William Lai Ching-te, current Taiwanese vice president and president-elect, is set to step into office.
Despite being part of the independence-favoring Democratic Progressive Party, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that Beijing does not see significance in the party’s electoral victory.
Taiwan’s Lai Ching-te In August 2023. (Office of the President of Taiwan, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
Zhu Songling, a Taiwan affairs specialist at Beijing Union University, told SCMP that the talks came at a favorable time, citing president-elect Lai’s approaching inauguration. Songling also said Ma’s reception in Beijing signaled the Chinese government’s willingness and resolve to peacefully settle the cross-strait issues.
“Since Ma is not in office, many of his ideas may not be implemented in concrete terms, but in general this [meeting] is still of great significance,” Zhu said, mentioning Ma’s continued influence in the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party.
Towards the end of Ma’s “journey of peace,” another KMT leader, former mayor of Taipei Hau Lung-bin, also plans to visit mainland China, with the possibility of meeting with Xi as well.
In Singapore in 2015: Ma Ying-jeou, then president of Taiwan, and Chinese President Xi Jinping posing for the media. (Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Hau is set to visit Zhengzhou and take part in the annual cultural spectacle that pays tribute to the Yellow Emperor. The tribute honors Chinese ancestry and heritage and Hau said his visit “emphasise[s] the fact that the people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same root, the same origin, and the same historical and cultural backgrounds, which should go beyond political differences.”
“It would be unreasonable for the cross-strait relations to end up in a military crisis or dangerous war caused by political manipulation,” Hau said.
Diego Ramos, ScheerPost managing editor and New York bureau chief, is a journalist from Queens, N.Y. He has previously worked at BuzzFeed News and was managing editor of Annenberg News at USC. He’s covered and researched myriad topics including war, politics, psychedelic research and sports.
This article is from ScheerPost.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Well, the CCP (formerly communists) and KMT (formerly ur-fascists and organized crime) continue kissing and making up. Good! Maybe a two-party system as in the USA will develop.
Those who want the Chinese people to be a submissive and impoverished imitation of the USA will continue to be disappointed!
Instead they will be a submissive and impoverished member of BRICS. China’s economic progress has not emancipated its working class in any significant way. Its government, while not adhering to Western capitalist strictures, has permitted the growth of a super-wealthy elite, while repressing the democratic aspirations of its people.
If only President Biden would open his mind and listen, instead of his pushing for war with China.
At least these two adults in the room are “engaged in a dialog of peace and unity” unlike the ‘bullies’ in the school yard…
A clear message to US war profiteers – no matter how much you salivate for a juicy, profitable conflict – there is no real likelihood of one here.
We don’t get to hear good news much any more. Halleluia!
If the neocon nutcases who appear to control US foreign policy, and have had their way ever since 2002, continue to have their way, there will be war with China. I can’t say when, but if fools like the born-again Christian Congressman from lower Michigan’s 5th District, Tim Walberg, have their way, it will be sooner rather than later.
“If the neocon nutcases who appear to control US foreign policy”
Never forget the Puritan fanatics, too powerful ever since the 1600s. Think of the Dispensationalsts, eager for a Jewish state to end the world and bring Jesus back.