An aide to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday teased the possibility of Ma meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during his upcoming trip to China.
Ma is just “a regular citizen,” as he left the presidency eight years ago and does not hold any position in government or politics, Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said in a radio interview.
However, based on the important history that Ma and Xi made when they met in 2015, the former president “of course hopes there is an opportunity to see an old friend,” Hsiao said.
Photo courtesy of Pop Radio News
Pressed on whether arrangements were being made for such a meeting, Hsiao said only that he “hoped” it would take place.
However, because the delegation would be guests, the exact arrangements are being left up to the Chinese side, he said.
Ma, who was president from 2008 to 2016, held a historic meeting with Xi in Singapore in 2015, marking the first meeting of leaders from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Ma also became the first former Taiwanese president to visit China in spring last year, and on Monday, his foundation announced that he is planning to lead another delegation of students to the country from Monday next week to April 11.
The delegation is to tour companies, visit sites of Chinese historical and cultural significance, and hold exchanges with university students in Beijing and Guangdong and Shaanxi provinces, the foundation said.
That this trip, unlike Ma’s previous one, is to include a stop in Beijing has given rise to speculation that a second Ma-Xi meeting could be in the works.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said that he “respects” the former president’s right to visit China as a private citizen, but nevertheless hopes that Ma would act in a way that meets the expectations of the Taiwanese public on matters relating to sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law.
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) told reporters he was not opposed to Ma’s visit, as long as it was conducted on the basis of “dignity and parity.”
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