(TibetanReview.net, Apr10’26) – As its relations with Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) remains fraught over the latter’s perceived strengthening of push for independence, China has invited the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) leader Cheng Li-wun and made clear its desire for peace and continued stand on the “One China” policy.
Both sides affirmed the need for maintaining peace around the self-ruled island China claims as its territory during the Great Hall of the People meeting, noted the AP Apr 10.
China will “absolutely not tolerate” independence for Taiwan, which is the chief culprit in undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait, Reuters Apr 10 cited President Xi Jinping as having told Cheng, while calling for efforts to advance “reunification”.
Cheng has called her visit a peace mission to reduce tensions at a time when Beijing had stepped up military pressure against the island.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait hope for peace and tranquillity, improved cross-Strait relations, and better lives,” China’s official Xinhua news agency Apr 10 cited Xi as having told the KMT chairperson.
Invited by the CPC Central Committee and Xi, Cheng is the first KMT chairperson to have led a delegation to the Chinese mainland in the past decade, the report noted.
Before that, then-Kuomintang leader Hung Hsiu-chu met with Chinese leaders in 2016. A year before that, Xi held a landmark meeting in Singapore with then-Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who previously served as chair of the Kuomintang. Ma met Xi again in Beijing in Apr 2024.
On the other hand, Beijing has regularly denounced DPP officials for making statements supporting Taiwanese independence or suggesting that Taiwan is already a separate state.
In his meeting with Cheng, Xi has stressed that no matter how the international landscape and the situation across the Taiwan Strait may evolve, the overarching trend toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not change, and the prevailing momentum for the Chinese on both sides to come together will not change.
Xi has said the meeting between the CPC and KMT leaders after 10 years was of great significance for developing relations between the two parties and across the Taiwan Strait.
Wang Hung-jen, a professor of political science at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, has told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that the closed-door talks between Xi and Cheng “could include the Kuomintang’s role in arms procurement decisions and its future election strategy.” China has strongly opposed US decisions to sell billions of dollars worth of arms to Taiwan on successive occassions.
The KMT-dominated Republic of China retreated to Taiwan after losing the 1927-49 Chinese Civil War to the Communists, which founded the People’s Republic of China that has ruled the mainland ever since. However, both parties remain committed to the “One China” principle that the island and the mainland constitute one country, though they disagree over who should govern, noted koreajoongangdaily.joins.com Apr 10.