Xi-Ma meeting: An appeal to a common Chinese identity

Analysts say Beijing is sending a message on cross-strait relations before DPP's Lai is sworn in

- Joyce ZK Lim

Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou made history on April 10 as the first top leader from the island, current or former, to have met a Chinese president in Beijing since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

He has an unlikely person to thank: Mr Lai Ching-te from Taiwan's independence-leaning, ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who will be sworn in as Taiwan's new president in May.

Mr Lai had previously proclaimed himself to be a "practical worker for Taiwan independence", and has been labelled a "separatist" and "troublemaker" by Beijing.

Analysts said that ahead of Mr Lai's inauguration, Beijing needed to have President Xi Jinping meet the China-friendly Mr Ma to put out its desired messaging on cross-strait relations, including an appeal to a common Chinese identity.

The meeting was also aimed at reassuring China's increasingly sceptical populace that hope remains for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, they added.

Nine years ago, when Mr Ma was still Taiwan president, he and Mr Xi had also made history when they met in Singapore, the first meeting between the top leaders of Taiwan and China since 1949.

But symbolism aside, the latest meeting between the two men is unlikely to affect the trajectory of cross-strait relations, analysts said.

For one thing, Mr Ma is now eight years out of office, and no longer holds any official position in the Kuomintang (KMT), the pro-Beijing opposition party that he once led.

Tensions have mounted across the Taiwan Strait since Mr Ma's presidency from 2008 to 2016. Mr Ma oversaw a warming of cross-strait ties, but also faced public backlash against his rapprochement with Beijing that was seen to not have benefited Taiwanese economically. These sentiments carried the DPP to electoral victory in 2016.

In the eight years since Ms Tsai Ing-wen took over as president, both sides have drifted further apart.