Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is to lead a delegation to China next month, his foundation announced yesterday, adding that Ma has not made any arrangements to meet with Chinese officials at this point.
The visit, which would be Ma’s second to China as a civilian, has been arranged amid heightened cross-strait tensions caused by the death of Chinese fishers during a pursuit by a coast guard vessel in waters around Kinmen County.
Foundation executive director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said Beijing invited Ma.
Photo: AFP / Ma Ying-jeou’s Office
The delegation, which would consist mainly of 20 students participating in the foundation’s leadership program, is to leave for China on Monday next week and return on April 11, he said.
The delegation is to visit tourist attractions and corporations in Beijing, as well as in Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces, Hsiao said.
Aside from attending an annual ceremony at the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor on Tomb Sweeping Day, Ma and the delegates would have academic exchanges with students at Beijing University and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong Province, he said.
Asked about the timing of the tour and whether Ma would meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) while in Beijing, Hsiao said that Ma’s visit to China last year occurred at about the same time, adding that the foundation did not have any special consideration about the timing of this year’s visit.
“It has been nine years since the leaders of Taiwan and China met in Singapore. Of course, we hope that old friends could meet, but we respect China’s arrangement in this regard. As guests, we would accept the arrangement and reception that the host has made available for us,” Hsiao said.
Hsiao also reiterated Ma’s belief that exchanges between Taiwanese and Chinese students would help de-escalate cross-strait tensions and lower the possibility for conflict.
Separately yesterday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement welcoming Ma’s planned visit and confirming his itinerary.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), who also serves as the DPP caucus secretary-general, yesterday said that given the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recent push to have President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visit Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), she hoped Ma would use the trip to “declare sovereignty” over the Taiwan-controlled island, which is also claimed by China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
“We respect the decisions of KMT leaders to visit China, but we want to remind them to be cautious about the people they meet and the statements they make. They should not go against mainstream public opinion by helping China suppress Taiwan,” she said.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
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