The leader of Taiwan’s largest opposition party is set to visit China in April after accepting an invite from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In a statement on Monday, Kuomintang (KMT) said its chairperson, Cheng Li-wun, was “grateful” for the invitation and had “gladly” accepted it.
Cheng “expressed hope that the two parties (the KMT and China’s Communist Party) would work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, strengthen cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, secure peace in the Taiwan Strait, and enhance the well-being of the people,” her party said.
Taiwan’s Cheng hopes to meet Xi
The former lawmaker assumed her role as KMT’s chairperson after winning an election in October last year.
She has publicly insisted on meeting Xi before an official visit to the United States, in a move that has garnered flak from both inside and outside of her party for being too pro-China.
The KMT advocates closer economic ties and more exchanges with Beijing, which claims self-ruling Taiwan as its own territory.
But there are concerns within the party that a meeting with Xi could set a voter backlash in motion in Taiwan’s district elections due to be held later this year.
China refuses to speak to the government of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing deems a “separatist.” However, it regularly welcomes senior KMT officials.
Cheng’s visit to China will be the first by a sitting KMT chairperson since 2016, when the then KMT leader Hung Hsiu-chu met with Xi.
China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that Cheng’s delegation is scheduled to visit Beijing, Shanghai and the eastern province of Jiangsu from April 7 to 12.
There was no immediate clarity on whether the itinerary included a meeting with Xi.
Taiwan’s proposed special defense budget
Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has accused Cheng of doing China’s bidding by stalling the government’s defense spending plans.
Lai’s administration is trying to get the approval of Taiwan’s opposition-majority Parliament on an extra $40 billion (€35 billion) in defense spending.
The KMT says it backs bolstering Taiwan’s defenses but has refused to sign on what it calls “blank cheques” and is seeking more details from the government.
Meanwhile, Cheng told foreign media last week that talks with Xi would carry “significant symbolic meaning” and could be a “foundation” for peaceful cross-strait relations.
“I do not believe a single meeting can resolve all the issues that have been accumulating for nearly a century,” Cheng said. “But … I hope I can successfully build such a bridge.”
The timing of Cheng’s visit would put her in China a month ahead of US President Donald Trump, who is expected in Beijing in mid-May. Trump’s China summit was was postponed from early April beacause of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Edited by: Natalie Mueller
