TAOYUAN, Taiwan -- Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou left for China on Monday on a landmark trip, saying he hoped to bring about peace and improve relations through the interactions of young people. Ma, in office from 2008-2016, will be the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists, where it remains to this day. The trip comes at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei as China keeps up military and political pressure to try and get democratic Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty. Ma met Chinese President Xi Jinpi...Keep on reading: Former Taiwan president heads to China pledging peace