High-profile meeting marks first time a sitting Kuomintang chairperson has met with the Communist Party leadership in over nine years
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAlcott Weiin BeijingPublished: 11:03am, 10 Apr 2026Communist Party chief Xi Jinping met Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in Beijing on Friday.Their meeting marked the first time a sitting KMT chairperson had met with the Communist Party leadership since November 2016, when then-KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu visited the mainland.
Cheng has described her six-day trip, which began on Tuesday in Shanghai, as a “journey of peace”. During her visits to Shanghai and Nanjing, she repeatedly emphasised cross-strait peace.
Still, Beijing has said peaceful reunification with the island would be the preferable option.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
