‘One family’: Xi Jinping hosts Taiwan opposition leader for the first time in a decade

TAIPEI – Chinese President Xi Jinping received Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun on April 10 in the first such meeting in a decade, at which both sides emphasised a desire for cross-strait peace while warning against Taiwan’s independence.

In public remarks prior to a closed-door meeting with Ms Cheng at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Mr Xi said today’s world is not entirely at peace, and that peace is precious.

“Compatriots on both sides of the strait are all Chinese – people of one family who want peace, development, exchange and cooperation,” he said.

Both sides of the strait belong to “one China”, Mr Xi added, according to a separate state media read-out.

“When the family is harmonious, all things will prosper,” he said. “Taiwan independence is the chief culprit in undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait – we will absolutely not tolerate or condone it.”

Ms Cheng, the chairperson of the Kuomintang (KMT), echoed Mr Xi’s stance, telling a press conference after the meeting that by “opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war”.

She also told Mr Xi she hoped that by the efforts of both the KMT and the Communist Party of China, the Taiwan Strait would no longer be a focal point of potential conflict.

Ms Cheng also suggested the idea of some day inviting Mr Xi to visit Taiwan.

“I, Li-wun, sincerely hope that one day in the future, I will have the opportunity to be the host and welcome general secretary Xi and all of you here present in Taiwan,” she said, using Mr Xi’s title as head of the Communist Party.

Official cross-strait channels are on ice as relations between the two sides of the strait have deteriorated in the 10 years of rule by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), following eight years of relatively warm ties under the Beijing-friendly KMT. 

At a time when China has stepped up military pressure against the self-ruled island it claims as its own territory, analysts say Ms Cheng is positioning her party as the only viable partner to restoring dialogue with Beijing, which would in turn lower tensions and ensure stability. 

The meeting between Ms Cheng and Mr Xi, who were all smiles as they exchanged a 14-second handshake, was the most watched in the KMT leader’s self-styled six-day “journey of peace” tour in China, which began on April 7.

Ahead of the summit, Ms Cheng called for “reconciliation and unity across the Taiwan Strait” as she paid homage to Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary who founded her party, on the Nanjing leg of her visit. In Shanghai, she said birds, not missiles, should fly in the sky; and fish, not warships, should occupy the seas. 

Despite being an opposition leader with no direct authority to change Taiwanese government policy, Ms Cheng received protocol typically reserved for officials of a far higher level, observers noted.

She was greeted by Mr Song Tao, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport on April 7. Later that evening, Mr Song hosted a welcome banquet for her at the Peace Hall in the Dongjiao State Guesthouse in Nanjing.

Meanwhile, Ms Cheng’s meeting with Mr Xi in Beijing, the last stop of her visit, was in the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People. The venue is typically reserved for foreign dignitaries and high-level talks. 

The location was also historically significant, as it was the site of the 2005 “icebreaker” between then Chinese President Hu Jintao and then KMT chair Lien Chan, the first high-level meeting between the two parties since the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. 

Ms Cheng’s treatment also marked a significant upgrade from the last time a sitting KMT chief met the Communist Party leadership, when then party chair Hung Hsiu-chu met Mr Xi in the Fujian Hall in 2016. 

“Clearly, Xi has placed great importance on this meeting with Cheng,” Assistant Professor James Chen, a cross-strait relations expert from Taiwan’s Tamkang University, told The Straits Times. 

“Beijing is not only signalling that it can bypass Taiwan’s elected government to build its own channel for cross-strait affairs, but that it can be entrusted to cooperate with Taiwanese politicians – so long as they accept its political preconditions,” he said. 

Beijing refuses to speak to the government of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, whom it labels a “dangerous separatist”.

But it regularly welcomes officials from the KMT, which advocates cross-strait dialogue based on the so-called 1992 Consensus, a tacit agreement that the two sides of the strait belong to “one China”, with each side having its own interpretation of what “one China” means. This framework, which Beijing sees as the basis for cross-strait interaction, is rejected by Mr Lai and the ruling DPP. 

Associate Professor Chen Shih-min, a political science analyst from the National Taiwan University (NTU), noted that while a restoration of cross-strait communication is always welcome, Ms Cheng will be criticised for being too close to China, which many in Taiwan view as a threat. 

During her meeting with Mr Xi, Ms Cheng echoed the Chinese leader’s words that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and belong to one family, while adding that the two parties should together preserve Chinese history and promote Chinese culture.

NTU’s Prof Chen said: “She is the most pro-China KMT chair in a decade, so Beijing will take advantage of that – but her views do not represent the majority viewpoint in Taiwan.

“During her week in China, Beijing never stopped its military aggression against Taiwan, so how are Taiwanese supposed to trust her ability to achieve so-called peace?” 

While Ms Cheng was in China this week, Taiwanese security officials told Reuters that Beijing had deployed nearly 100 naval and coast guard vessels in and around the South and East China Seas, a notable increase from the 50 to 60 usually deployed in the region.

According to the latest data in a long-running study by Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, released in January, only 2.5 per cent of the people in Taiwan identified as Chinese, while an overwhelming 62 per cent viewed themselves as Taiwanese. Another 31.7 per cent said they identified as both Taiwanese and Chinese. 

NTU’s Prof Chen said it was noteworthy that Ms Cheng had not explicitly uttered the word “unification” during her meeting with Mr Xi. 

“Even she knows that this sensitive word would really kill the party’s prospects at the local elections this year,” he said, referring to Taiwan’s municipal elections in November. 

“She said many things that pleased Beijing, but she is aware that there are limits.”