Cross-strait relations

This handout picture taken and released from former President Ma Ying-jeou office on 30 March 2023 shows former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou speaks at the Wuhan University in Hunan province, China. (Handout/Ma Ying-jeou office/AFP)

How Ma Ying-jeou tested Beijing’s flexibility towards Taiwan

Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong notes that the visit of former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to mainland China might be seeing positive results, as the mainland Chinese government seems to be favourably impressed. How will the visit influence cross-strait relations?
People wave as the motorcade of former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou arrives at the Museum of Modern Chinese History in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, on 28 March 2023. (Greg Baker/AFP)

Chasing Ma Ying-jeou with the Chinese in Nanjing 

As former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou makes his way around the mainland on his 12-day ancestral visit, mainland people gathering in the streets to greet him signal changes in the ebb and flow of cross-strait ties.
This handout picture taken and released by the office of former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou on 28 March 2023 shows former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (centre) holding a written calligraphy reading "Peaceful struggle and revitalisation of Zhonghua" during his visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province. (Handout/Ma Ying-jeou's office/AFP)

All the subtleties: Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's words and actions in China

Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s trip to mainland China began with a visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, where Ma paid tribute to Sun in a wreath-laying ceremony and a speech, in which he mentioned Minguo (the short form of the Republic of China) four times, and called for peace efforts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen arrives for her departure to New York to start her trip to Guatemala and Belize at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, 29 March 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

The US is just as wary of Taiwan as of China

Academic Deng Qingbo says that US elites are not only in fear of China's rise, but they are also deeply concerned about Taiwan's immense potential in technological advancement, geographical position, and cultural depth and resilience. The two combined will be a nightmare for the US.
People walk past a Taiwan flag in Taipei, Taiwan, 7 March 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

‘Scepticism about the US’ spreading in Taiwan

Japanese academic Yoshiyuki Ogasawara notes that there is growing scepticism about the US in Taiwan — the longer the Ukraine war drags on, the more the Taiwanese people are anxious about the US’s help in the event of a Taiwan crisis. These sentiments will have an impact on the Taiwan presidential election in 2024.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou sits down with Straits Times senior regional correspondent Li Xueying for an exclusive interview at the Presidential Palace in Taipei, Taiwan, in April 2016, a month before he steps down as Taiwan president. (Taiwan Office of the President)

Political significance of former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s China visit

Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong notes that while former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s planned visit to several cities in mainland China is deemed an ancestral visit and to lead student exchanges, its political implications cannot be ignored. The trip could be a win for himself and both sides of the Taiwan Strait as the parties involved continue to push for cooperation and peaceful exchanges.
Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (centre) waves as Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an (left) follows during a ceremony marking the 76th anniversary of "228 incident" at the 228 Peace Park in Taipei, Taiwan, on 28 February 2023. (Sam Yeh/AFP)

Will former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s China visit win support for the KMT?

East Asian Institute senior research fellow Qi Dongtao analyses the significance of former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s upcoming visit to mainland China. Could history repeat itself and the visit be a harbinger of a marked strengthening of ties between the mainland and the KMT, leading to a victory over the DPP in the 2024 elections?
A general view of the rush hour traffic in Taipei, Taiwan, 17 January 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

Taiwan's economy is breaking away from China's

Heritage Foundation researcher Min-Hua Chiang observes that China is fast losing its grip on its economic coercion strategy vis-à-vis Taiwan. With supply chains regrouping after a period of US-China trade war and geopolitical tensions, Taiwan has found greater support in its efforts to delink cross-strait issues with its economic survival.
A painting of former Taiwan President Chiang Kai-shek and a Taiwan flag remains on the wall of a house in Kinmen, Taiwan, 16 October 2021. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

The case of a missing Taiwanese soldier at Kinmen outpost: Desertion, defection or something else?

The case of a Taiwanese soldier who had gone missing from his post at Lieyu Garrison Battalion on Erdan Islet, an atoll off Kinmen County’s Lieyu Island, has drawn speculation of a possible “defection” to the mainland. But this incident and recent instances of military food shortages and missing weapons have kept negative attention on Taiwan’s military amid increasingly tense geopolitics. Zaobao’s China Desk examines the issue.