Taiwan opposition leader and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing, stress peace
Taiwan's main opposition leader, Cheng Li-wun, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, a rare high-level encounter that both sides used to stress their desire for peace across the Taiwan Strait. The meeting, held at the Great Hall of the People, was the first between the leaders of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party in nearly a decade, according to multiple reports.
Cheng, chairwoman of the KMT, is the highest-ranking Taiwanese leader to meet Xi since 2015, when then-President Ma Ying-jeou met Xi in Singapore, as reported by Al Jazeera. The visit comes amid heightened military tensions, with Chinese forces conducting near-daily maneuvers around the island, and follows Beijing's 2016 cutoff of high-level communications with Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Beijing accuses of pushing toward independence.
During the public portion of their meeting, both Xi and Cheng reiterated their opposition to Taiwan independence, a position echoed by multiple sources. Xi, speaking as head of the Chinese Communist Party, said China would "absolutely not tolerate" such a move, according to the Jerusalem Post and other outlets. He also emphasized the importance of peace, noting that "the world today is far from peaceful," as quoted by Deutsche Welle and the BBC.
Cheng, who has described her six-day trip as a "peace mission" and a "journey of peace," called for institutional solutions to prevent war and for cooperation and dialogue between the two sides, according to reports from The Hindu, the BBC, and the South China Morning Post. She stressed that Chinese and Taiwanese leaders should "transcend political confrontation and mutual hostility," Al Jazeera reported.
The meeting also touched on the long-standing goal of reunification. Xi called for efforts to advance "reunification," while Cheng echoed remarks about the shared aspirations of people on both sides of the strait, according to the BBC and Deutsche Welle. The South China Morning Post reported that Xi appeared to take a patient approach, quoting Chinese fables about perseverance, such as the story of the foolish old man who moved mountains.
While the meeting was largely seen as a gesture of goodwill, some in Taiwan, particularly within the ruling DPP, criticized Cheng's visit as being "subservient" to Beijing, as noted by the BBC.
The KMT, which advocates closer ties with China while opposing formal independence, is Taiwan's largest opposition party. Cheng's visit also comes at a time when the KMT has blocked a proposed $40 billion special budget for acquiring US weapons, a move reported by multiple outlets.