China has yet to provide its readout of the meeting.
Ma is visiting China at a time of heightened tension between Taipei and Beijing, as China ramps up military and diplomatic pressure to try and force the democratically governed island to accept Chinese sovereignty.
Ma, who was in office from 2008 to 2016, met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in late 2015 shortly before current Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was elected.
He is not scheduled to see Xi on this trip, but Ma’s office has said he is open to whatever meetings China sets up.
Tsai rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. She has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed, as Beijing views her as a separatist.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party has criticised Ma’s trip, saying he should use the opportunity to tell Xi to stop China’s almost daily military harassment of the island.
Taiwan’s main opposition party the Kuomintang, which Ma is a senior member of, says it is vital to speak to China to try and lessen tensions.