Former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Ma Ying-jeou pays tribute to ancestors in Xiangtan, Hunan Province on April 1, 2023. Photo: VCG

Ma Ying-jeou, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT), continued his trip in the Chinese mainland on Sunday, and he told the media that the development of the mainland is fast and some are even "undreamed of" after visiting two heavy equipment enterprises in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province on Sunday.

"The warm hospitality of the local people is the most touching to me…I visited enterprises and I just found the development of the mainland in all fields is very fast and some are even undreamed of. This is a very good sign and we have many opportunities for cooperation in the future," Ma told the media in Changsha.

On Sunday, Ma visited China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI) and SANY Heavy Industry, two giant companies based in Changsha that represent the powerful strength of infrastructure construction in the mainland. 

CRCHI is a large enterprise integrating the research, design, manufacture and service of underground engineering equipment and rail transit equipment. It ranks No.1 in the world on full-section tunnel boring machine manufacturing, according to the CRCHI website. 

SANY is a heavy equipment manufacturing company covering fields like construction and mining equipment, port machinery, oil drilling machinery, and renewable wind energy systems.

Experts said that apart from visiting sites with historical or cultural significance, it's also crucial to show the Taiwan compatriots, especially political figures like Ma, about the development of the mainland.

Some media outlets in the island have showed very limited positive news about the mainland, and they are focusing on the bad news of the mainland and even falsely report news about the mainland that is based on bias, prejudice and disinformation. This means many people in Taiwan, including political figures, have limited knowledge about the mainland's remarkable development in past decades, and many of them don't know that many cities and provinces in the mainland have already comprehensively surpassed the island in many fields, said analysts. 

Although some Taiwan media outlets have tried to poison the atmosphere for cross-Straits exchanges, there are also some media outlets in the island that reported Ma's visits to the two mainland companies by seeking the special connections between the two firms and the island.

In 2017, the Taipei Metro purchased four tunnel boring machines from the CRCHI, and this was the first time for the mainland-manufactured tunnel boring machines to be sold to the Taiwan market, breaking the long-standing monopoly of Japanese firms in the island, chinatimes.com, a Taiwan-based news portal website, reported on Sunday. 

In 2009, SANY donated facilities worth 3.5 million yuan (about $500,000) to Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot hit the island. SANY also participated in the construction of terminal 3 of the Taoyuan International Airport and urban construction in Taipei and Taoyuan. After listening to the relevant introduction about the company's friendly ties with the island, Ma applauded twice, according to chinatimes.com. 

Since Ma started his trip to the mainland on March 27, he and his delegation - which includes some 30 students from universities in the island - have visited many places including sites with historical significance like the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, and top universities in different provinces of the mainland, as well as the burial site of Ma's ancestors in Xiangtan, Hunan Province.

To help fix the sense of national identity and cultural identity for Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, which were damaged by secessionists and foreign forces, it's important for people on the island to better learn that the mainland is very successful in terms of development and governance, has achieved internationally recognized achievements in past decades and now is being increasingly respected among members of the international community. This will gradually make Taiwan compatriots understand the benefits of reunification, and more and more people will turn to support the reunification process, experts noted.