The BBC's April 5, 2023 Is Taiwan in danger of being loved to death? includes the following:

Meanwhile the Communist Party of China has mounted its own charm offensive, by inviting President Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, to tour the mainland.

Mr Ma went on an unprecedented five-city tour, ostensibly to pay homage to his ancestors. He has indeed visited their graves in central China. But the trip is also political. In fact, it's the first time a former president of Taiwan has ever been invited to the People's Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

"Beijing is trying to soften the tone towards Taiwan... winning more hearts and minds, and also avoiding a surge of Taiwanese nationalism during the [2024] presidential campaign," Mr Sung says.

Mr Ma's visit, he adds, provided the necessary "political cover" to do that.

When he landed in Nanjing last week, Mr Ma made a strikingly political speech: "The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. And both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors."

"Beijing is being nice to Ma Ying-jeou because he represents capitulation," Prof (William Stanton¹, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan²) says. "He says 'we are all Chinese'. That's something he and the Chinese agree on, but it's not something the Taiwanese agree on."

The risk in Mr Ma's strategy is that more than 60% of Taiwan's residents, according to surveys, describe themselves as Taiwanese, and not Chinese.

The last sentence is an oversimplification of an oversimplification of a false choice; in my experience someone walking up to you in Taiwan and asking for a one word answer to "Are you Taiwanese or Chinese" is pretty much considered laughable either in its naivety, or its nature as a "trick question"³.

Nonetheless, 'we are all Chinese' would certainly be a heavily loaded statement for a former president of Taiwan to make (per Prof. Stanton's likely informed paraphrasing) in a speech in Nanjing as an invited guest of Beijing.

Question: What exactly did former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou say in his "strikingly political speech" in Nanjing? Is there a source with a reliable Mandarin to English translation that captures the necessary subtleties and nuances to understand what he really said?

• ¹William A. Stanton (also here)
• ²American Institute in Taiwan
• ³As a loose analogy⁴, imagine walking up to someone in the New York City St. Patricks Day Parade and asking them "Are you American or Irish?"
• ⁴I said "loose analogy". Of course it's different. Analogies have to be by definition different, they can't be the same thing.

The BBC's April 5, 2023 Is Taiwan in danger of being loved to death? includes the following:

Meanwhile the Communist Party of China has mounted its own charm offensive, by inviting President Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, to tour the mainland.

Mr Ma went on an unprecedented five-city tour, ostensibly to pay homage to his ancestors. He has indeed visited their graves in central China. But the trip is also political. In fact, it's the first time a former president of Taiwan has ever been invited to the People's Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

"Beijing is trying to soften the tone towards Taiwan... winning more hearts and minds, and also avoiding a surge of Taiwanese nationalism during the [2024] presidential campaign," Mr Sung says.

Mr Ma's visit, he adds, provided the necessary "political cover" to do that.

When he landed in Nanjing last week, Mr Ma made a strikingly political speech: "The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. And both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors."

"Beijing is being nice to Ma Ying-jeou because he represents capitulation," Prof (William Stanton¹, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan²) says. "He says 'we are all Chinese'. That's something he and the Chinese agree on, but it's not something the Taiwanese agree on."

The risk in Mr Ma's strategy is that more than 60% of Taiwan's residents, according to surveys, describe themselves as Taiwanese, and not Chinese.

The last sentence is an oversimplification of an oversimplification of a false choice; in my experience someone walking up to you in Taiwan and asking for a one word answer to "Are you Taiwanese or Chinese" is pretty much considered laughable either in its naivety, or its nature as a "trick question"³.

Nonetheless, 'we are all Chinese' would certainly be a heavily loaded statement for a former president of Taiwan to make (per Prof. Stanton's likely informed paraphrasing) in a speech in Nanjing as an invited guest of Beijing.

Question: What exactly did former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou say in his "strikingly political speech" in Nanjing? Is there a source with a reliable Mandarin to English translation that captures the necessary subtleties and nuances to understand what he really said in his whole speech?

• ¹William A. Stanton (also here)
• ²American Institute in Taiwan
• ³As a loose analogy⁴, imagine walking up to someone in the New York City St. Patricks Day Parade and asking them "Are you American or Irish?"
• ⁴I said "loose analogy". Of course it's different. Analogies have to be by definition different, they can't be the same thing.

The BBC's April 5, 2023 Is Taiwan in danger of being loved to death? includes the following:

Meanwhile the Communist Party of China has mounted its own charm offensive, by inviting President Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, to tour the mainland.

Mr Ma went on an unprecedented five-city tour, ostensibly to pay homage to his ancestors. He has indeed visited their graves in central China. But the trip is also political. In fact, it's the first time a former president of Taiwan has ever been invited to the People's Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

"Beijing is trying to soften the tone towards Taiwan... winning more hearts and minds, and also avoiding a surge of Taiwanese nationalism during the [2024] presidential campaign," Mr Sung says.

Mr Ma's visit, he adds, provided the necessary "political cover" to do that.

When he landed in Nanjing last week, Mr Ma made a strikingly political speech: "The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. And both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors."

"Beijing is being nice to Ma Ying-jeou because he represents capitulation," Prof (William Stanton¹, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan²) says. "He says 'we are all Chinese'. That's something he and the Chinese agree on, but it's not something the Taiwanese agree on."

The risk in Mr Ma's strategy is that more than 60% of Taiwan's residents, according to surveys, describe themselves as Taiwanese, and not Chinese.

The last sentence is an oversimplification of an oversimplification of a false choice; in my experience someone walking up to you in Taiwan and asking for a one word answer to "Are you Taiwanese or Chinese" is pretty much considered laughable either in its naivety, or its nature as a "trick question".

Nonetheless, 'we are all Chinese' would certainly be a heavily loaded statement for a former president of Taiwan to make (per Prof. Stanton's likely informed paraphrasing) in a speech in Nanjing as an invited guest of Beijing.

Question: What exactly did former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou say in his "strikingly political speech" in Nanjing? Is there a source with a reliable Mandarin to English translation that captures the necessary subtleties and nuances to understand what he really said?

• ¹William A. Stanton (also here)
• ²American Institute in Taiwan

The BBC's April 5, 2023 Is Taiwan in danger of being loved to death? includes the following:

Meanwhile the Communist Party of China has mounted its own charm offensive, by inviting President Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, to tour the mainland.

Mr Ma went on an unprecedented five-city tour, ostensibly to pay homage to his ancestors. He has indeed visited their graves in central China. But the trip is also political. In fact, it's the first time a former president of Taiwan has ever been invited to the People's Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

"Beijing is trying to soften the tone towards Taiwan... winning more hearts and minds, and also avoiding a surge of Taiwanese nationalism during the [2024] presidential campaign," Mr Sung says.

Mr Ma's visit, he adds, provided the necessary "political cover" to do that.

When he landed in Nanjing last week, Mr Ma made a strikingly political speech: "The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. And both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors."

"Beijing is being nice to Ma Ying-jeou because he represents capitulation," Prof (William Stanton¹, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan²) says. "He says 'we are all Chinese'. That's something he and the Chinese agree on, but it's not something the Taiwanese agree on."

The risk in Mr Ma's strategy is that more than 60% of Taiwan's residents, according to surveys, describe themselves as Taiwanese, and not Chinese.

The last sentence is an oversimplification of an oversimplification of a false choice; in my experience someone walking up to you in Taiwan and asking for a one word answer to "Are you Taiwanese or Chinese" is pretty much considered laughable either in its naivety, or its nature as a "trick question"³.

Nonetheless, 'we are all Chinese' would certainly be a heavily loaded statement for a former president of Taiwan to make (per Prof. Stanton's likely informed paraphrasing) in a speech in Nanjing as an invited guest of Beijing.

Question: What exactly did former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou say in his "strikingly political speech" in Nanjing? Is there a source with a reliable Mandarin to English translation that captures the necessary subtleties and nuances to understand what he really said?

• ¹William A. Stanton (also here)
• ²American Institute in Taiwan
• ³As a loose analogy⁴, imagine walking up to someone in the New York City St. Patricks Day Parade and asking them "Are you American or Irish?"
• ⁴I said "loose analogy". Of course it's different. Analogies have to be by definition different, they can't be the same thing.

The BBC's April 5, 2023 Is Taiwan in danger of being loved to death? includes the following:

Meanwhile the Communist Party of China has mounted its own charm offensive, by inviting President Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, to tour the mainland.

Mr Ma went on an unprecedented five-city tour, ostensibly to pay homage to his ancestors. He has indeed visited their graves in central China. But the trip is also political. In fact, it's the first time a former president of Taiwan has ever been invited to the People's Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

"Beijing is trying to soften the tone towards Taiwan... winning more hearts and minds, and also avoiding a surge of Taiwanese nationalism during the [2024] presidential campaign," Mr Sung says.

Mr Ma's visit, he adds, provided the necessary "political cover" to do that.

When he landed in Nanjing last week, Mr Ma made a strikingly political speech: "The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. And both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors."

"Beijing is being nice to Ma Ying-jeou because he represents capitulation," Prof (William Stanton¹, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan²) says. "He says 'we are all Chinese'. That's something he and the Chinese agree on, but it's not something the Taiwanese agree on."

The risk in Mr Ma's strategy is that more than 60% of Taiwan's residents, according to surveys, describe themselves as Taiwanese, and not Chinese.

The last sentence is an oversimplification of an oversimplification of a false choice; in my experience someone walking up to you in Taiwan and asking for a one word answer to "Are you Taiwanese or Chinese" is pretty much considered laughable in its naivety.

Nonetheless, 'we are all Chinese' is a heavily loaded statement for a former president of Taiwan to make (per Prof. Stanton's likely informed paraphrasing) in a speech in Nanjing as an invited guest of Beijing.

Question: What exactly did former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou say in his "strikingly political speech" in Nanjing? Is there a source with a reliable Mandarin to English translation that captures the necessary subtleties and nuances to understand what he really said?

• ¹William A. Stanton (also here)
• ²American Institute in Taiwan

The BBC's April 5, 2023 Is Taiwan in danger of being loved to death? includes the following:

Meanwhile the Communist Party of China has mounted its own charm offensive, by inviting President Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, to tour the mainland.

Mr Ma went on an unprecedented five-city tour, ostensibly to pay homage to his ancestors. He has indeed visited their graves in central China. But the trip is also political. In fact, it's the first time a former president of Taiwan has ever been invited to the People's Republic of China since its founding in 1949.

"Beijing is trying to soften the tone towards Taiwan... winning more hearts and minds, and also avoiding a surge of Taiwanese nationalism during the [2024] presidential campaign," Mr Sung says.

Mr Ma's visit, he adds, provided the necessary "political cover" to do that.

When he landed in Nanjing last week, Mr Ma made a strikingly political speech: "The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese. And both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors."

"Beijing is being nice to Ma Ying-jeou because he represents capitulation," Prof (William Stanton¹, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan²) says. "He says 'we are all Chinese'. That's something he and the Chinese agree on, but it's not something the Taiwanese agree on."

The risk in Mr Ma's strategy is that more than 60% of Taiwan's residents, according to surveys, describe themselves as Taiwanese, and not Chinese.

The last sentence is an oversimplification of an oversimplification of a false choice; in my experience someone walking up to you in Taiwan and asking for a one word answer to "Are you Taiwanese or Chinese" is pretty much considered laughable either in its naivety, or its nature as a "trick question".

Nonetheless, 'we are all Chinese' would certainly be a heavily loaded statement for a former president of Taiwan to make (per Prof. Stanton's likely informed paraphrasing) in a speech in Nanjing as an invited guest of Beijing.

Question: What exactly did former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou say in his "strikingly political speech" in Nanjing? Is there a source with a reliable Mandarin to English translation that captures the necessary subtleties and nuances to understand what he really said?

• ¹William A. Stanton (also here)
• ²American Institute in Taiwan