Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou left for China on Monday on a landmark trip, saying he hoped to bring about peace and improve relations through the interactions of young people.
Ma, in office from 2008-2016, will be the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists, where it remains to this day.
Speaking to reporters at Taiwan's main international airport at Taoyuan, Ma, 73, said he was "very happy" to be going on a trip where he will talk to students and pay respects to the graves of his ancestors in China. The KMT says outreach to China is needed now more than ever given the tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
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