Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou arrived in China on Monday amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan.
Ma is the first sitting or former Taiwanese leader to visit mainland China since the Communist revolution in 1949, Reuters reported. Ma told presspersons that he aims to improve relations and bring peace between the nations through the visit.
According to Ma's office, he was received at Shanghai's Pudong airport by officials, including Chen Yuanfeng, deputy head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office. Taiwan's ruling party Democratic Progressive Party criticised the visit and its timing.
Speaking to reporters at Taoyuan international airport Ma said that he was very happy about going on a trip where he will talk to students and pay respects to his ancestors' graves in China.
Ma was in office from 2008-2016 and he is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government at the end of a civil war with the Communists.
Ma's trip comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two nations as China keeps pressuring Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty. "Apart from going to make offerings to my ancestors, I am also taking Taiwan university students to the mainland for exchanges with them, hoping to improve the current cross-strait atmosphere through the enthusiasm and interaction of young people, so peace can come even faster and sooner to us here," Reuters quoted Ma as saying.
Taiwan's ruling DPP criticised Ma for the timing of the visit as former long-time Taiwan ally Honduras ended ties with Taipei recently, in favour of Beijing.
Ma is a senior member of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT) and it favours close ties with China. The KMT said the outreach to China was needed now given the tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
Ma, while he was in office, met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in 2015. According to reports, no meeting has been scheduled between Ma or any senior Chinese officials during the visit. However, Ma's office said he will be "at his host's disposal" if they do arrange such a get-together, Reuters reported.
