Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping Meets Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing

AP, File photos
Left: China’s President President Xi Jinping
Right: Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping met former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing on Wednesday, state media reported, the second time the men have met and at a time of ongoing tensions between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists, no serving Taiwanese leader has visited China.

Ma, president from 2008 to 2016, last year became the first former Taiwanese leader to visit China, and is now on his second trip to the country. Ma had been widely expected to meet Xi this time around.