Taiwan opposition leader accepts President Xi’s invitation to visit China

2026-03-30 - 06:52

The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party accepted an invitation from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit in April, her party and Chinese state media reported Monday. Kuomintang (KMT) chairperson Cheng Li-wun, who took up her role in November, has insisted on meeting Xi before she makes an official trip to the United States, drawing criticism from inside and outside her party that she is too pro-China. Kuomintang (KMT) chairperson Cheng Li-wun in Kaohsiung on March 24, 2026. Photo: Cheng Li-wun, via Facebook. The KMT advocates closer relations and more exchanges with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it. Cheng “gladly accepted” the invitation to lead a delegation to China, her party said in a statement, confirming a Xinhua report. Cheng “looks forward to joint efforts by both parties to advance the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, promote cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, and work for peace in the Taiwan Strait and greater well-being for people on both sides,” the statement said. Xinhua said the delegation would visit “the Chinese mainland” from April 7-12, but did not specify where or if Cheng would meet with Xi, which she has been publicly pushing for. The KMT statement also offered few details. There are concerns within the KMT that a Cheng-Xi meeting could trigger voter backlash in Taiwan’s district elections later this year. While the KMT has long supported friendlier relations with Beijing, Cheng has been accused by President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of doing Beijing’s bidding by stalling the government’s defence spending plans. But speaking to foreign media last week, Cheng said talks with Xi would carry “significant symbolic meaning” and could be a “foundation” to peaceful relations across the Taiwan Strait. Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 4, 2025. Photo: Lintao Zhang/Pool/AFP. “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.” Taiwan’s parliament is debating proposals for special defence spending that are aimed at boosting the island’s military capabilities against a potential Chinese attack. Lai’s government has proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39 billion) in spending on critical defence purchases, including US arms, while the KMT wants to allocate NT$380 billion for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions. While the KMT supported having stronger defences, Cheng said last week that more military spending alone would not achieve peace with China. “There must also be political efforts. Political efforts are... the key,” Cheng said. China severed high-level communications with Taiwan in 2016 after Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, who also belongs to the DPP, took power. Chinese leaders detest Lai, who Beijing calls a “separatist”.