Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held a highly unusual meeting with a former leader of Taiwan, the democratic island that Beijing considers to be a breakaway province, in a signal to Washington, the incoming administration in Taipei and the rest of Asia.
The meeting unfolded while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Biden met in Washington to shore up a bilateral alliance that has deepened in the face of increasingly aggressive moves by Beijing in recent years.
Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who led Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, favors deeper bilateral engagement with Beijing. His opposition Kuomintang Party has criticized the independence-leaning government of President Tsai Ing-wen for its more assertive policies against Chinese pressure.
Mr. Xi, in footage carried by state broadcaster CCTV, told Mr. Ma there is “one China” and praised the former leader for rejecting moves toward Taiwanese independence.
“Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese people. There is no grudge that cannot be resolved, no issue that cannot be discussed, and no force that can separate us,” Mr. Xi said. “External interference cannot stop the historic trend of the reunion of the family and the country.”
Mr. Ma said a war between China and Taiwan would be “unbearable” and that he hoped for peace across the strait that separates them.
Mr. Ma is the first former Taiwanese leader to be feted in Beijing since Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party fled to the island in 1949 after a civil war with Mao Zedong’s Communists. Mr. Xi and Mr. Ma also met in Singapore in 2015.
It is unclear if Mr. Ma wields much influence as a former leader, though the meeting was designed to increase pressure on incoming Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, an ally of Ms. Tsai, to take a more conciliatory approach to Beijing. Mr. Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party won a clear victory in January’s presidential election, much to China’s disappointment.
The Beijing meeting coincided with Mr. Biden’s efforts to draw closer to Japan and the Philippines, which will hold a first-ever, three-nation summit this week in Washington.
The summit will focus on Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea. All three nations could be pulled into any conflict between China and Taiwan.
The U.S. typically casts China as a geopolitical rival and Taiwan as a democratic ally, irking Beijing.
The White House said the meeting with the Philippines and Japan is part of a broader effort to increase ties with allies across East Asia.
“They want to work with us, and they know that we are the right kind of counterweight to an untethered China,” a senior administration official said in a media call previewing Mr. Kishida’s visit.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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