Taiwan faces choice of ‘peace and war’, ex-president say

Tension with China has escalated under Taiwan’s government and the island will in future have to choose between “peace and war”, former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Friday at the end of a landmark visit to China.
Ma’s visit came at a time of heightened tension with China’s anger roused this week by a meeting between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, during a stopover by the Taiwan leader in the United States.
Ma is the first former Taiwanese president to ever visit China. Since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists, no serving island leader has visited China.
Ma was president from 2008 to 2016 as the head of a Kuomintang (KMT) government. The party, now in opposition, favours close ties with China, which claims the island as its own.