Taiwan’s KMT opposition chair gladly accepts Xi’s invitation to visit China

China & Taiwan – (Web Desk) – The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party is heading to China. Kuomintang chairperson Cheng Li-wun accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit in April. Her party confirmed the news on Monday. So did Chinese state media.

Cheng took over as KMT chair just last November. She has made it clear she wants to meet Xi before she visits the United States. That decision has upset people both inside and outside her party. Many feel she is leaning too close to Beijing.

The KMT has always pushed for friendlier ties with China. But this is tricky. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.

According to her party’s statement, Cheng happily accepted the invite. She hopes both sides can work together for peace across the Taiwan Strait and better lives for people on both sides.

Chinese state media says the delegation will visit Jiangsu province, Shanghai and Beijing between April 7 and 12. One big question still hangs in the air. Will she actually sit down with Xi? She has been pushing for that meeting publicly, but no one has confirmed it yet.

After the news broke, Cheng spoke up. She said she wants to show that war between the two sides is not inevitable.

This will be the first time a sitting KMT chair has visited China since 2016. Back then, former KMT leader Hung Hsiu-chu met Xi in Beijing.

Not everyone in the KMT is comfortable with this trip though. Some worry that a Cheng and Xi meeting could hurt the party in local elections later this year.

Taiwan’s ruling party, the DPP, has been sharp in its criticism. President Lai Ching-te’s team has accused Cheng of doing Beijing’s bidding. They point to her efforts to slow down the government’s defence budget as proof.

Cheng pushes back on that. She told foreign reporters last week that talks with Xi would carry real symbolic weight. She sees it as a starting point for lasting peace.

“One meeting cannot fix nearly a century of problems,” she said. “But I hope I can build a bridge.”

Taiwan’s parliament is currently debating a major defence spending package. Lai’s government wants to spend around $39 billion on military upgrades, including weapons from the United States. The KMT supports a smaller figure but wants the option to buy more American arms later.

There is even disagreement within the KMT itself. Some party lawmakers want a much bigger budget than what the party officially supports. Lu Shiow-yen, the mayor of Taichung and a likely KMT presidential hopeful in 2028, recently said the right figure should be somewhere between $25 billion and $31 billion.

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Cheng’s China trip was announced just as a group of US lawmakers arrived in Taiwan. Their visit was clearly meant to push for stronger defence commitments from Taipei.