'We're all Chinese': Ex Taiwan president in China

STORY: One of the former presidents of Taiwan is making a historic trip to China, becoming the first past or current Taiwanese leader to visit since the 1949 civil war between them.

But the trip, which is being billed as an effort to lessen their worsening hostilities, is also being condemned by the political party that rules Taiwan - which is questioning why former President Ma Ying-jeou has decided to visit now.

This was the start of Ma's trip in Nanjing, China on Tuesday (March 28). He's talking about shared ethnicity.

"People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese people, and are both descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors. Today, many of the nation-building proposals held dear by the founding father of the country have been realized in Taiwan and the mainland.”

Ma was visiting the burial site of Sun Yat-sen, who is celebrated by both sides for overthrowing the last Chinese emperor in 1911.

Sun is also considered the founder of the Republic of China, the government that was driven onto Taiwan by Communists during the civil war. Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China to this day.

Polls suggest that most modern day Taiwanese people do not identify as Chinese though.

Ma's visit is part of an outreach effort by the political party he belongs to, the opposition party called Kuomintang, which traditionally favors close relations with China but strongly denies being pro-Beijing.

He is not scheduled to meet with any senior Beijing leaders on the trip.