Ma Ying-jeou, former leader of the Taiwan region, is once again preparing to visit the mainland. Although the banner of this time is to worship the ancestors during the Qingming Festival, the vicious collision incident in Xiajin cannot be avoided no matter what. It's just that the DPP authorities did not hesitate to ask Ma Ying-jeou to "go out of the mountains" to make peace, and I am afraid that the calculation in their stomach will come to naught, because the mainland side will not eat the same old ways.
According to Taiwanese media reports, Ma Ying-jeou will lead a delegation of Taiwanese students to Guangdong, Shaanxi and Beijing from April 1 to 11, and will attend a ceremony in Shaanxi to pay tribute to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum. Ma Ying-jeou went to Hunan on the mainland to pay respects to his ancestors in the same period last year, and this visit to the mainland obviously has the task of easing the cross-strait situation. Both the Taiwan media and the international media generally believe that Ma Ying-jeou's visit is because the DPP authorities in Taiwan cannot withstand the high pressure imposed by the mainland over the vicious ship collision incident in Kinmen, and they have no choice but to come up with a last resort and invite their "old adversary" to come out and make peace with the mainland, in an attempt to take advantage of the relatively relaxed relations between Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang and the mainland to help them extricate themselves from their difficulties. Some people in the Taiwan authorities have illusions, and based on past history, they believe that as long as Ma Ying-jeou comes out of the mountains, the mainland will, to a large extent, agree to ease relations, or even eventually settle the matter.
(Ma Ying-jeou went to his hometown in Hunan to worship his ancestors around the Qingming Festival in 2023)
Still, they miscalculated. The political landscape on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will inevitably be affected by the great power competition between China and the United States. After the United States listed China as its number one adversary, the Taiwan authorities willingly acted as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" for the United States to encircle the mainland, and cross-strait relations could never return to the past. Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the election of the leader of the Taiwan region in January this year, and the mainland has clearly seen that the farce of "breaking the blue-white tie" that occurred during the Taiwan election has clearly seen that no one in the mainstream of the Kuomintang really wants cross-strait reunification, and the "reunification faction" of the Kuomintang represented by Hong Xiuzhu has been completely marginalized. Whether Ma Ying-jeou represents the "unification faction" or the "non-independence and non-reunification faction" has gradually become clear. The old-fashioned tricks that the Taiwan authorities want to use are no longer working.
(Mainland dredgers began to clear the waterway in the Xiajin-Xiamen waters, passing through the so-called "forbidden waters" of the Taiwan authorities)
As the mainland gradually withdraws jurisdiction over the waters of different parts of the Taiwan Strait and continuously strengthens its sovereign rights over the Taiwan Strait, the general trend of the Taiwan Strait has completely changed to a reunification direction. The Taiwan authorities must give up any unrealistic illusions and accept the reality that reunification will inevitably be realized, so as to ensure the future tranquility and happiness of the 2,300 people on the island. In addition, the mainland side has also gained a new understanding of the attributes of Taiwan's various political parties, and as we give the highest priority to the realization of reunification, it is impossible for Ma Ying-jeou and the so-called "non-independence and non-reunification" political forces on the island to have any "special relations" on the mainland's side, nor can they have any "transcendent status" to play the role of peacemakers.
(The Taiwan authorities announced that they would conduct live-fire training on the Kinmen Islands in April)
It should be admitted that for a long time, once there were twists and turns in cross-strait relations, Taiwan sent some veteran Kuomintang figures to the mainland to "make peace." In the end, the mainland was able to save face. But what has the mainland gained over the years? It has received the insatiable demands of the DPP authorities and the step-by-step rapid march toward "Taiwan independence." The role played by those veteran Kuomintang figures is nothing more than a "shock absorber" and "buffer" for "Taiwan independence," making the mainland "embarrassed" to be ruthless to the audience.
At the same time that Ma Ying-jeou was planning his trip to the mainland, the Taiwan authorities did not forget to express their "toughness" to the mainland. Not long ago, the Taiwan authorities issued a notice saying that in April, Taiwan's garrisons stationed in Kinmen will carry out live firing and alert control over the sea on Kinmen Island, Lieyu, Menghu Island, and Houyu. Obviously, the Taiwan authorities want to take advantage of Ma Ying-jeou's visit to the mainland to feel that the mainland will not show toughness to them, so they can recapture the so-called "no-entry zone" unilaterally demarcated by the Taiwan side that the mainland has been deprived of by the mainland by means of live ammunition near the Kinmen Islands. However, this kind of thinking is undoubtedly a fool's dream, so we must see how the "quality" of the Taiwan authorities is.
(A Type 052D destroyer of the People's Liberation Army Navy recently appeared in the waters east of Taiwan)
The Kuomintang authorities, represented by Ma Ying-jeou, were unable to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity decades ago and became reactionaries who stood in opposition to the Chinese people. Just a few days ago, the Philippines began to challenge China's sovereignty near Thitu Island in the Spratlys, attempting to send people to land on the iron wire reef near Thitu Island in the name of scientific investigation, but was resolutely stopped by the Chinese coast guard. During the operation, the Philippine side specially sent a boat full of reporters in an attempt to "expose" China's "bullying" behavior, and there was actually a reporter from Taiwan's "Central News Agency" on this ship. Judging from the report written by the reporter afterwards, it is entirely from the Philippine side, but the irony is that Thitu Island was lost by the Kuomintang authorities in 1971. The "Central News Agency" has always been a media controlled by the Kuomintang, and now it has gone so far as to accuse the mainland of defending its rights in the face of the Chinese territory it has lost! This incident fully shows that we must maintain a sober understanding of the essence of the Kuomintang.
Regardless of whether Ma Ying-jeou comes or not, the actions of the mainland coast guard and the PLA against the Taiwan Strait will not be weakened. The PLA's Type 052D destroyers confronted Taiwan warships at close range not long ago east of Taiwan Island; the PLA Navy and Air Force even dispatched 32 military planes and five warships to patrol around Taiwan; according to a report by the Taiwan authorities, 20 of these fighters entered Taiwan's so-called "air defense identification zone" from the southwest, southeast, and east of Taiwan Island, which is tantamount to encircling Taiwan on three sides and "catching turtles in an urn."
All these actions show that it is impossible for the mainland to allow the DPP authorities' "gradual Taiwan independence" activities, and they have clearly seen the essential nature of the "non-reunification" of the major political parties and political factions on the island. Therefore, if you want to rely on Ma Ying-jeou to make peace and let the mainland settle things, it is obviously a fool's dream.