Kowtowing to the CCP: Former Taiwan President Ma Doing It Again

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (R) and Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (L) before a meeting at the Shangrila Hotel in Singapore on Nov. 7, 2015. Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images

Commentary

Ma Ying-jeou, a former Taiwan President and former Kuomintang Party (KMT) Chairman, has a long history of kowtowing to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He plans to lead a KMT delegation to China with former aids and several dozen students. During the 12-day trip beginning on 27 March, he will visit five cities: Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, and Shanghai. This will be the first time a former Taiwanese/Republic of China (ROC) President has gone to Communist China since 1949.

Nanjing and Sun Yat-Sen

Visiting Nanjing is very significant because Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s mausoleum is located just outside the city, and where Ma sent his Mainland Affairs Council chairman, Wang Yu-chi, to visit in 2014, initiating new “government-to-government” exchanges. Ma could again use the memorial for significant political purposes since Sun Yat-Sen is viewed by the mainland Chinese and Taiwanese as the founder of the modern Chinese state after the fall of the Qing Dynasty.