On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with a former Taiwanese president who advocates stronger ties with China. This was a very uncommon encounter just weeks before the democratic island swears in a new leader whom Beijing openly despises.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s president from 2008 to 2016, met with Xi on Wednesday afternoon while on an 11-day tour of China.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

The carefully choreographed moment is rich in political symbolism: it marks the first time China’s top leader in Beijing has hosted a former Taiwanese president since Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) retreated to Taipei in 1949.

This is Xi’s first meeting with former KMT leader Ma since their historic summit in Singapore in 2015.

However, their reunion illustrates the expanding political split across the Taiwan Strait and how Xi’s increasingly hostile posture toward Taipei has driven more Taiwanese away from China.

In his opening remarks, Xi thanked Ma for opposing “Taiwan independence,” encouraging cross-strait relations, and recognizing that both sides of the strait belong to “one China.”

“Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese. “There is no grudge that cannot be settled, no issue that cannot be debated, and no force that can separate us,” Xi told his visitor. “External interference cannot stop the historic trend of the reunion of the family and the country.”

Ma responded by stating that while the two sides of the strait grew under different regimes, the people on both sides were Chinese.

“If a war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be an unbearable burden for the Chinese nation,” he added. “I sincerely hope that both sides respect the values and way of life treasured by the people and maintain peace across the strait.”

However, as Xi increases military, economic, and diplomatic pressure on its democratic island neighbor, the appeal of a shared Chinese identity has declined significantly in Taiwan.

That tendency was highlighted in January when Taiwanese voters ignored China’s warnings and gave the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) an unprecedented third term by electing Lai Ching-te, who has long faced Beijing’s anger for defending Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Since then, Beijing has snatched another of Taipei’s dwindling diplomatic allies, increased patrols around Taiwan’s frontline islands after two Chinese fishermen perished in neighboring waters, and continues to fly fighter jets near the self-ruled island.

Ma’s encounter with Xi comes during a busy week of diplomatic action in Washington. President Joe Biden will host the first-ever leaders’ summit involving the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. Joint fears about China’s growing assertiveness under Xi, notably toward Taiwan, are a primary motivation for the summit.

A senior source in Taiwan’s administration informed CNN. Beijing rescheduled the meeting from Monday to coincide with Biden’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday.

According to Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group, China’s pressure methods are meant to drive Taiwan’s next Lai administration into a more accommodating political attitude toward China.

“Ma’s visit continues this effort by underscoring Beijing’s position that cross-strait dialogue is only possible with those in Taiwan who accept the idea that the two sides of the strait belong to ‘one China,'” she said.

Beijing has severed high-level official contacts with Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP took office in 2016. A wave of outrage over Ma’s contentious trade agreement with Beijing served as the impetus for this action, which took advantage of the growing number of Taiwanese voters determined to preserve the island’s unique identity.

Unlike the KMT, the DPP rejects Beijing’s prerequisite for official talks, an agreement in which both sides accept “one China,” albeit with different views.

Official communication is unlikely to restart for Lai, who has pledged to uphold Tsai’s cross-strait policies. Beijing has consistently rejected Lai’s offer of negotiations, describing him as a dangerous separatist and “troublemaker.”

However, by focusing on Ma, who has been out of office for years and has little power to shape Taiwan’s political reality, Beijing may be revealing “its inability to find or cultivate another Taiwanese political figure of comparable stature who is willing to play dove toward Beijing today,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a Taiwan-based fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

Ma is becoming a frequent flyer to the Chinese mainland.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

The 73-year-old became Taiwan’s first former president to visit the mainland in late March last year, embarking on a 12-day journey across the Taiwan Strait. However, he was unable to gain a meeting with any member of Beijing’s Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s most powerful body.

This year’s visit, like the previous one, coincided with the Qingming Festival when people pay tribute to deceased family members and worship their ancestors; it also occurred just weeks before Lai’s inauguration as Taiwan’s president on May 20.

He said, “A meeting at this juncture enables Beijing to highlight the shared cultural roots between Taiwan and China and to exert pressure on Taiwan’s next administration.”

“Beijing is using the meeting between Xi and Ma to highlight the credibility and longevity of its carrots – that Beijing is good to its allies, whether incumbent or retired. It sends a message to political leaders around the world that embracing Beijing is a wise long-term investment.”

China’s welcoming of Ma’s visit signals Taiwan and others that peaceful unification by winning hearts and minds remains Beijing’s favored choice, at least for the time being, despite simmering cross-strait tensions, Sung noted.

Carefully edited footage of the talks, which is likely to reach millions of households in China via prime-time television news, sends a message to the Chinese public that unification with Taiwan is still feasible despite the DPP’s historic election triumph.

“For Beijing, Ma’s visit is also a useful way of assuring its domestic audience – ‘We have not lost the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people, there remains cultural and historical connections that bind us, and the DPP does not represent mainstream Taiwanese views,'” Hsiao, the analyst, said.

Ma’s agenda, including his meeting with Xi, has been widely observed in Taiwan.

“The ruling party DPP will likely play down the significance of Ma’s China visits, preferring to describe it as the private act of tourism by a retiree,” Sung, a member of the Atlantic Council, said.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

“Taiwan’s opposition KMT will be torn – it wishes to celebrate Ma’s achievements with Beijing, but is also hesitant to flaunt it in the face of the Taiwanese electorate, which remains wary about closer cross-strait ties.”

Ma remains a senior member of the KMT, which won the most seats in Taiwan’s parliamentary elections in January but failed to win the presidency for the third time.

The KMT, Taiwan’s largest opposition party, is eager to demonstrate that it is capable of handling relations with both China and the United States, but James Chen, an assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University, says Ma’s meeting may do more harm than good.

“The DPP and its supporters have questioned Ma’s loyalty at home and labeled the KMT as pro-China.” “Washington, particularly Capitol Hill, may not appreciate Ma’s trip to China due to bipartisan anti-China sentiment,” he stated.

Few experts expect the conference will significantly alter the status quo in cross-strait ties.

“The value of this meeting is primarily in its symbolism – an attempt to shape the cross-strait narrative to both parties’ favor while fundamental political differences remain,” said Hsiao of the International Crisis Group.

However, regardless of the summit’s outcome, Ma believes it will cement his legacy on cross-strait policy.

“He likely wishes to be remembered as the sole Taiwanese leader who can break the ice with Beijing,” he said.

SOURCE – (CNN)