TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could meet high-level officials during his upcoming trip to China, though there was doubt whether that would include leader Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Friday (March 24).
Ma is scheduled to travel in China from March 27 to April 7, including stopovers in at least five cities. He is said to be meeting with Song Tao (宋濤), the new director of the Cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
Asked whether Ma was likely to meet other officials, MAC Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) told a radio interview Friday it was highly likely that an official more senior than Song would meet the former president “by coincidence,” but according to current information, that probably would not be Xi, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported. When Ma was still president of Taiwan and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), he met Xi in Singapore in 2015.
Chiu called on Ma to be vigilant about letting himself be used, as Chinese propaganda departments had gone three years without showing any results for their work, so they might try and make up for lost time. With presidential elections coming up in Taiwan next January, the public should pay close attention, the minister said.
As the MAC was closely monitoring developments, including Xi’s itinerary, it was unlikely that Ma and Xi would meet again. One candidate for a meeting was Wang Huning (王滬寧), the new chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the fourth-ranking member of the Politburo, according to Chiu.
