Is China pushing ‘peaceful reunification’ with Taipei? Xi's meeting with Taiwan ex-president decoded

China seems to be promoting what it calls peaceful unification as an alternative to military annexation of Taiwan.

Many analysts believe that Chinese President Xi Jingping’s meeting with former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou is an attempt to explore the so called peaceful method.

Ma, who was leading a student delegation to China, met Xi in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People, which is a venue typically reserved for foreign leaders meeting with senior Chinese officials.

Xi used the meeting to emphasise his belief that Taiwan and China were destined for what he termed “reunification”.

Taiwanese media reported that Xi said external interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family. He said that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were Chinese, and “there is no rancor that cannot be resolved”.

Reports said Ma told Xi that the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will definitely have enough wisdom to handle cross-strait disputes peacefully and avoid conflicts.