Ma calls to recognize historical connections
DPP urged not to misinterpret mainland’s goodwill, positive gesture
Former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party Ma Ying-jeou returned to the island of Taiwan on Thursday after having led a delegation of young people from Taiwan on an 11-day visit to the mainland. Analysts said that while the mainland has shown positive signs to promote the crossStraits peace and development, the island’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are purposely misinterpreting the goodwill of the mainland to reject reunification. People in Taiwan should be cautioned against the DPP’s such acts, they said.
At the Taoyuan airport in Taipei,
Ma told reporters that his visit to the mainland allowed Taiwan’s youth to deeply understand Chinese history and culture. He said that although Taiwan and the mainland have different political systems, as well as different perspectives and values, we are all descendants of the Yan and Huang emperors, according to a report from Taiwan’s news outlet und. com.
Taiwan’s youth should set aside ideological differences and recognize the historical and cultural connections between Taiwan island and the mainland. These connections cannot be severed by politics. Ma said he believes that people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, as
Chinese, can resolve disputes peacefully as long as there is a common political foundation – the 1992 Consensus, which allows for continued dialogue between the two sides.
When Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with Ma in Beijing on Wednesday, Xi also noted that people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are all Chinese and the distance of the Straits cannot sever the bond of kinship between the compatriots.
Aside from the DPP-led green camp and “Taiwan independence” separatists, the Taiwan society, in general, took note of the mainland’s goodwill and positive attitude overtures to ease cross-Straits tensions and promote exchanges between the two sides during Ma’s trip, Wang Wu-lang, secretary-general of the Taiwanbased Cross-Straits Peace Forum, told the Global Times.
Wang noted that Xi’s remarks made when meeting Ma was heartfelt and sincere, highlighting his concern and goodwill toward compatriots in Taiwan. Xi’s great cares about the recent earthquake in Hualien also deeply touched the people in Taiwan.
Ma’s trip showed that the connection between the mainland and Taiwan cannot be severed by the DPP’s political “de-Sinicization” moves, analysts said.
Some of the DPP politicians’ rhetoric, responding to Ma’s remarks, did not represent the concerns of the majority of the people in Taiwan. Wang said that the majority fear that the DPP’s “Taiwan independence” separatist stance may lead the island to wars, and what the people desire for is normal exchanges across the Straits as well as peace and stability.
Aside from showing goodwill, the mainland also sent clear message to compatriots in Taiwan, calling on them to jointly safeguard the common homeland of the Chinese nation, to advance toward the historical direction of peaceful reunification and national unity, said Wang.