Dennis Hickey, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of the Graduate Program in Global Studies, met with President Ma Ying-Jeou, former President of the Republic of China on Taiwan (2008-2016) for much of the morning on March 16. During his 8 years in office, President Ma reduced tensions with mainland China to the lowest level since the two sides were split by the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Topics discussed ranged from President Ma’s historic summit with President Xi of the People’s Republic of China in 2015  to the current disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea. And he even managed to get President Ma to pose with a MSU t-shirt presented to him as a gift. He promised to wear it when jogging!