In a speech delivered at Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, Kuomintang chair says cross-strait divisions are rooted in historical wounds
4-MIN READ4-MINLawrence Chungin TaipeiPublished: 5:14pm, 8 Apr 2026Taiwanese opposition leader Cheng Li-wun blamed Japanese “imperialist forces” for dividing mainland China and Taiwan, as she paid tribute to Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen at his mausoleum in Nanjing on Wednesday.In a speech delivered after the Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman laid a floral wreath before a statue of the founder of modern China, Cheng said Taiwan became a Japanese colony at a time of national weakness, following the 1895 defeat of China in the first Sino-Japanese war.She said that after the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Taiwanese people were “filled with excitement”, with intellectuals hoping “a revitalised China would one day recover Taiwan and end Japanese colonial rule”.
Cheng added that China’s suffering over the past century had also been driven by internal conflicts.
“To this day, cross-strait divisions remain rooted in the wound created 130 years ago by the first Sino-Japanese war – a wound carved through the Taiwan Strait that has yet to heal,” she said.
“China’s suffering has not only stemmed from external imperialist forces, but also from internal divisions and conflicts that led to mutual destruction, with ordinary people bearing the brunt of the consequences.”
