TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a planned visit to Beijing, according to a local media report published Tuesday (March 25).
Ma’s office did not say if the pair would meet when it announced the trip on Monday. However, Storm Media reported that the former Taiwan president will meet the Chinese Communist Party president on April 8, citing an unnamed source.
Meanwhile, Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation Director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said in a radio interview that Ma "of course hopes there is an opportunity to see an old friend," when speaking about the pair’s historic 2015 meeting.
The pair first met in Singapore when Ma was president, marking the first time presidents of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) met since 1945. Ma’s coming trip to China will take place between April 1-11, and will be his second, following a trip in 2023 where he said people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait “are all Chinese.”
On Monday, Ma’s office said the trip will see Ma lead a group of students for educational exchange, as he did previously, to increase connections and reduce cross-strait tension. The group will visit Beijing, Guangdong, Xi’an, and other locations.