Beijing [China], April 1 : China's state-run CCTV has censored all the mentions of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official title) made by Taiwan's former President Ma Ying-jeou in the Nanjing region of China on Tuesday, Focus Taiwan reported.
During a visit to the housing complex Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum in Nanjing, Ma Ying-jeou four times mentioned the official name of Taiwan. He mentioned ROC once while paying tribute to Sun, once in a public statement he gave in the compound and twice when stating the dates of his visit and Sun's passing.
At the mausoleum, Ma Ying-jeou also displayed a calligraphy work he created and wrote the date of which as "112" which is the number of years since the founding of the ROC. Those elements were completely removed from the CCTV's print and video coverage of Ma's visit to the mausoleum, as per the Focus Taiwan report.
On Wednesday, Ma Ying-jeou visited the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. He described the massacre as "malistic brutality rarely seen in human history" and choked up several times when spoke to reporters, as per the news report. He also spoke about the importance of avoiding a conflict between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Despite Ma Ying-jeou references to the ROC in China, leaders from Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were critical of those efforts. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai said Ma on several occasions only used the ROC in abbreviated form and stressed that he should have said the full name, according to Focus Taiwan report.
Chen said that during a meeting between Ma and Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party Municipal Committee Secretary Xin Changxing, Ma was referred to as a "former leader of the Taiwan region." Chen further said that Ma Ying-jeou was referred to as "Mr Ma" after Ma called himself as former Taiwan President.
On Thursday, Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou highlighted the importance of the "1992 consensus" at a meeting with Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao in China, as per the Focus Taiwan report.
Ma Ying-jeou is the first former Taiwan President to visit the Chinese mainland. He said that the "1992 consensus" was a focus when leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait met in Singapore in 2015. He referred to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his tenure as Taiwan's President.
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