Everyone here is Chinese. — Former president of Taiwan

Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou has begun his controversial 12-day trip to China by calling for more peaceful relations between Taipei and Beijing and pointing out the common ancestry of their people. He is the first current or former Taiwanese head of government to visit the mainland and is making the trip amid heightened tensions with China, which ramped up military drills in the Taiwan Strait last year and has vowed to reunify with the island, by force if necessary. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has criticized Ma's China trip, noting that it comes just days after China wrestled away the Honduras, one of the self-ruled island's few allies. Ma, who is joined on his six-city trip by former aides and a group of college students, has no plans for meetings with Chinese government officials.
Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is traveling around China to improve the cross-strait atmosphere through the enthusiastic interactions of young people. He is also meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore, marking the first such summit since former Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island in 1949. Ma expressed hope that the two sides will work together to pursue peace, avoid war, and strive to revitalize China. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered Beijing by visiting Taipei last August, defying warnings from Chinese officials that the trip would encourage Taiwanese separatists and undermine China's sovereignty over the island. Ma's reconciliatory comments came on the same day that Czech lawmaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova made a Pelosi-like visit to Taipei, saying that if Chinese forces attack Taiwan, they will fail.