Senior Taiwan opposition leader Andrew Hsia visits China a month before elections

TAIPEI – A senior leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party, is in China for meetings with the Taiwanese community there, his party said on Dec 14, drawing criticism from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) party over the trip’s timing.

The visit by KMT vice-chairman Andrew Hsia, a former Taiwanese diplomat and one-time head of Taiwan’s China policymaking Mainland Affairs Council, comes as his party seeks to narrow the ruling party’s lead ahead of the Jan 13 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The vote will affect Taiwan’s future relations with China, which regards the self-governing island as its territory, and has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those sovereignty claims. Taiwan rejects such claims.

Mr Hsia, who arrived on Dec 13, is visiting Chengdu, Nanchang, Zhongshan, Xiamen and Chongqing at the invitation of the Taiwanese business community in China. He will attend events with members of the business community, the party said in a statement first reported by Reuters.

Mr Hsia’s visit had been planned since October, and is mainly aimed at “continuing the achievements and goals” of previous trips, it added. “Under the highly tense relationship between the United States and the Beijing authorities, the leaders of the two sides still need to maintain channels of communication,” the KMT said, referring to Taiwan and China.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two sources briefed on the trip, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that Mr Hsia was likely to meet Taiwan Affairs Office officials.

The KMT said it was untrue that Mr Hsia would meet “senior” Taiwan Affairs Office officials.

The DPP said the KMT needed to explain why it had sent Mr Hsia to China “secretly” so close to the elections and to say exactly who he would meet.

“It is no wonder that international public opinion and Taiwan’s people have questioned: Does the KMT have to report everything to Beijing first?” the DPP said in a statement.

Mr Hsia has been to China four times in the last 1½ years, including

a controversial visit in August 2022

shortly after China staged war games around the island in response to a Taipei visit by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

KMT chairman Eric Chu at the time defended Mr Hsia’s visit as a “brave” outreach to China, even though Taiwan’s government condemned it and even some party members were upset at the timing. In February, June and August 2023, Mr Hsia met Mr Song Tao, the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

The KMT traditionally favours close ties with China, but strongly denies being pro-Beijing.

There is nothing illegal about Mr Hsia going to China, and both the KMT and ruling Democratic Progressive Party, whose presidential candidate Lai Ching-te leads in the polls, have encouraged overseas Taiwanese to come home to vote.

Taiwan has no absentee or proxy voting system; all voting must take place in person in Taiwan.

China detests Dr Lai, believing he is a separatist, and has rebuffed repeated offers of talks with him.

The Taiwan Affairs Office on Dec 13 repeated its attacks on Dr Lai, saying he was a “Taiwan independence worker” – a comment Dr Lai previously made, though not this time on the campaign trail – and a “bringer of war”.

The KMT says if it wins the presidential election, it will re-engage with Beijing and lower tensions, but has also pledged to continue boosting Taiwan’s defences. REUTERS