The leader of Taiwan’s conservative opposition party will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping ahead of the U.S.-China summit in May.
Cheng Li-wun, leader of the Kuomingtang, “gladly” accepted an invitation to speak with Xi in Beijing next month — promising to use the opportunity to advocate cross-strait peace.
“We want to prove to the people of Taiwan and the entire world that conflict between the two sides of the strait is not inevitable,” Cheng told the press on Monday. “Through our own wisdom and efforts, we can together forge a broad path of peace.”
“We hope April’s visit marks the beginning of the new spring of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” she added, “and this would be the first step for both sides to extend kindness and build mutual trust.”
Cheng’s visit to China will occur just weeks before the much-anticipated summit between Xi and President Donald Trump. The meeting, originally scheduled for this month, has been pushed back to mid-May.
The decision to bring the KMT leader to Beijing ahead of the summit presents an opportunity for Xi to showcase an alternative Taiwanese school of politics that is more amicable to cross-strait dialogue.
Cheng was elected as party chairwoman late last year following a campaign that emphasized the need to temper the island’s provocations against the Communist regime. She also prominently advocated that Taiwanese people not give up their Chinese cultural identity.
In sharp contrast to President William Lai and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Cheng and the KMT said on the campaign trail that they want “Taiwanese people to be able to confidently say, ‘I am Chinese.’”
The DPP declares openly its belief that the island is entirely sovereign and separated from the mainland, frustrating the Communist Party. Beijing sees the reestablishment of Chinese governance over Taiwan as a crucial objective ahead of the nation’s centennial anniversary in 2049.
The Kuomintang, whose name translates to “Chinese Nationalist Party,” is the party that briefly ruled mainland China between the fall of the Qing dynasty and the climax of the Communist Revolution.
The modern KMT continues to resent the Communist regime that overthrew it, but rejects the idea that Taiwan should become its own sovereign state separate from the mainland. It instead advocates maintaining the ambiguous status quo, playing nice with Beijing, and quietly building up defensive capabilities that would make an invasion too costly.
It’s a position that welcomes far more cooperation from Beijing, but risks alienating younger voters who question the endgame of cozying up to a Communist regime no one has interest in joining.
DPP Secretary-General Hsu Kuo-yung said he hopes Cheng will communicate to Xi that Taiwan is a “sovereign, independent country” with the right to elect its own president.
“And she should also ask Xi Jinping: When is China going to elect its president?” he added.
The announcement of Cheng’s visit coincides with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators visiting Taiwan to discuss regional security and trade — a trip that has irritated Beijing and led to accusations of meddling in Chinese affairs.
WESTERN-STYLE PROGRESSIVISM COMES TO TAIWAN, CHALLENGING ITS NATIONAL IDENTITY
“China has all along opposed official contact between the U.S. and China’s Taiwan region, and has lodged serious protests with the U.S. side,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters on Monday.
She warned that the United States should “handle the Taiwan question prudently and properly” and “stop any form of official contact with China’s Taiwan region.”
