China welcomes former Taiwan president’s plan to visit | Politics News | Al Jazeera

Beijing has welcomed a plan by former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou of the self-ruled island’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party to visit China.

A Chinese government spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office said officials will provide Ma with any assistance he needs, the state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday.

Ma, who led the self-ruled island from 2008 to 2016, plans to visit China from March 27 until April 7, becoming the first former Taiwan leader to visit China since the nationalist government moved to Taipei at the end of the civil war in 1949.