NANJING, China, March 28 (Portal) – People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ethnically Chinese and have the same ancestry, former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said on Tuesday at the start of a historic visit to China by the ruling Taiwan party, which has criticized it .
Ma, who served from 2008 to 2016, is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated ROC government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the communists.
He is visiting the country amid heightened tensions as Beijing uses political and military means to pressure democratically-ruled Taiwan into accepting Chinese sovereignty.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party has questioned why he is visiting after China took away another of Taiwan’s diplomatic ally, Honduras, on Sunday and left the island with official diplomatic ties with just 13 countries.
Commenting in the east China city of Nanjing at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, where the man celebrated for toppling China’s last emperor in 1911 and establishing a republic is buried, Ma praised Sun’s contributions.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are Chinese and both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors,” Ma said in comments from his office.
Ma used a Chinese phrase meaning people of Chinese descent rather than referring to their nationality. Descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors is a term referring to a common ancestor of the Chinese.
According to surveys, most Taiwanese no longer identify as Chinese.
Sun is still officially considered the father of the Republic of China, which remains Taiwan’s official name.
Sun is also lauded by the Communist Party for overthrowing the Qing Dynasty, but the Beijing and Taipei governments do not recognize each other.
Ma’s visit is part of an effort by Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), to China in hopes of easing tensions. The KMT traditionally favors close ties with China but firmly denies being pro-Beijing.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been turned down because China views her as a separatist. She says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Ma, a senior KMT member, said he hopes for peace.
“We sincerely hope that the two sides will work together to seek peace, avoid war and strive for China’s revitalization,” he said, again using a phrase referring to the Chinese people as an ethnicity and not related to a nationality. “This is an unavoidable responsibility of the Chinese on both sides of the straits, and we must work hard.”
Ma will not meet with senior Chinese leaders on this trip. He and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Singapore in 2015.
Reporting by Nicoco Chan; Writing from Ben Blanchard. Editing by Gerry Doyle
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