China’s Xi meets former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing on pro-unification visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing in a bid to promote unification between the sides that separated amid civil war in 1949

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing on April 10 in a bid to promote unification between the sides that separated amid civil war in 1949.

Mr. Ma left office almost two decades ago and was largely excluded from the opposition Nationalist Party’s failed campaign to retake the presidency in January, a concession to the electorate's strong opposition to political unification with China and politicians seen as willing to compromise Taiwan's security.

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He follows a long line of politicians from the Nationalists, also known as the KMT, who have been invited to China by its authoritarian one-party government and given VIP treatment on visits around the country.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. Beijing sends navy ships and warplanes around the island on a daily basis in hopes of wearing down Taiwan's defensives and intimidating the population.

“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese. There is no dispute that cannot be resolved, there is no problem that cannot be discussed, and no force can separate us," Mr. Xi told Mr. Ma.

"Differences in systems cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to the same country and nation,” he added.