Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Kuomintang Party Chairman Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, the first meeting between Xi and the current Taiwanese opposition leader in nearly a decade.
one in read out Released by Chinese state media, Xi said Beijing “welcomes any proposal conducive to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.” This is according to a CNBC translation of the statement into Chinese.
Xi also reiterated that “‘Taiwan independence’ is the primary threat undermining stability across the Taiwan Strait,” and called on mainland and Taiwan party leaders to oppose “separatism and foreign interference.”
Cheng Took command last October The largest opposition party at a time of rising military and political tensions with the mainland. His visit to Beijing comes as the KMT seeks to establish itself as a viable interlocutor with the mainland ahead of Taiwan’s 2028 presidential election.
The tone of Beijing’s official readout marked a meaningful change, said Ziwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “This message reduces the risk of military conflict in the Taiwan Strait and is beneficial to both mainland China and Taiwan,” Zhang said. He said it signals Beijing’s preference for a peaceful approach to cross-Strait relations.
In the statement, Xi reiterated that the mainland and Taiwan share an ethnic and cultural identity that political differences cannot eliminate, while emphasizing that the “one China” principle remains the non-negotiable basis for any engagement.
The Chinese leader called for broader economic, trade and cultural exchanges, vowing to deepen “political mutual trust” and keep communication channels open.
The meeting comes ahead of a planned visit by US President Donald Trump in May, where he is expected to meet Xi to discuss a range of issues including trade, fentanyl flows and Taiwan.
Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and considers the issue an internal matter, a position it has used as a pretext for intervention by Washington and its allies, including Japan.
Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party said Cheng had Taiwanese public opinion misrepresented In his visit to China and accused the KMT of undermining national security.
Cheng described his Beijing visit as part of a strategy “Redress through dialogue,” Promising that if his party returns to power in 2028, it will seek to restart broader cross-Strait exchanges, including tourism and political engagement.
“The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the shared rejuvenation of the people on both sides of the strait,” Cheng said during the meeting with Xi. According to Taiwanese local media. Beijing and Taipei should work on creating permanent mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation, he said, adding that both sides should move beyond political confrontation to prevent war.
Cheng’s leadership in the KMT is based partly on an appeal to shared Chinese heritage and a calculation by some in Taiwan’s business community — that President Lai Ching-tey’s pro-independence posture has provoked unnecessary confrontation with Beijing at a time when Washington’s attention is elsewhere, said Michael Feller, chief strategist at Geopolitical Strategy.
The KMT has blocked a $40 billion special defense budget proposed by Lai, which would fund a multilayered air defense system designed to counter potential Chinese military incursions.
Trump’s military actions in Venezuela and Iran, as well as his threats over Greenland, have led some to draw parallels with Beijing’s stance toward Taiwan — though analysts say the risk of aggression on the mainland in the near future is limited.
“The risk of sudden aggression on the mainland against Taiwan is lower than many in Washington believe,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director of Teneo. “China’s leadership believes that the balance of military power and overall strategic influence is steadily shifting in Beijing’s favor.”
The Iran conflict has created new uncertainty, but Wildau said a more consequential inflection point is further away. If the DPP wins a fourth consecutive presidency in 2028 and Xi secures another term at the 2027 party congress, “Xi may conclude that peaceful unification is no longer viable,” he said.