Taiwanese opposition leader Cheng Li-wun is preparing to visit the United States in June, aiming to leverage the political momentum from last month’s meeting with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Cheng, who heads the main opposition party Kuomintang, will also test her message on the Taiwan Strait in Washington. In recent media interviews Cheng has outlined an agenda that goes beyond traditional party outreach, promoting what she calls “a new road map” for cross-strait stability –...
Communist Party chief Xi Jinping appears to be taking a patient approach to reunification with Taiwan, according to the island’s opposition leader and a member of her delegation who attended a rare meeting with Xi in Beijing. Xi met Cheng Li-wun, who leads Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang, and her delegation at the Great Hall of the People on Friday – the first talks between sitting leaders of the two parties in nearly a decade. Discussing the cross-strait relationship, Xi said the issues had...
Taiwan’s political pendulum is reversing. The government led by Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai Ching-te is increasingly discredited, not least for selling out the jewel of its semiconductor industry to the United States under pressure from President Donald Trump. The Legislative Yuan is controlled by the opposition led by the Kuomintang (KMT). Party politics is now institutionalised into a sustained confrontation between the island’s presidency and its legislature. Now, budgets...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “fully confident” of closer ties with Taiwan as he met a leader of the island’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party for the first time in almost a decade. “The historical trend that compatriots of both sides of the strait will get closer and get together will not change,” Xi said at the start of his discussion with Cheng Li-wun. “This is a certainty of history, and we are fully confident.” Cheng called for a “systemic solution” to avoid war in the Taiwan...
Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s biggest opposition party, the Kuomintang, highlighted the need for peace as she spoke to the media in Beijing on Friday afternoon after her historic meeting with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping. It is the first time the leaders of the KMT and the Communist Party have met in nine years and comes at a time of heightened cross-strait military tensions. Here are the main takeaways from the press conference. A ‘choice of war or peace’ In a clear reference to the...
Cheng Li-wun is the Kuomintang's first sitting leader to visit China in a decade.
Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), will speak to the press in Beijing at 2pm on Friday, hours after her historic meeting with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping. It was the first meeting between leaders of the two parties in nine years after then-KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu visited the mainland in November 2016. During the meeting on Friday morning, both Xi and Cheng highlighted a message of peace across the strait. “Compatriots on both sides are...
Kuomintang leader Cheng Li-wun's trip to China could make or break the party's prospects in upcoming elections.
Taiwanese opposition leader Cheng Li-wun said she hoped to make the Taiwan Strait “safe” and not one of the world’s “most dangerous places” as she left for Shanghai on Tuesday. Kuomintang chairwoman Cheng is leading a 14-member delegation – including three KMT vice-chairmen – on a six-day visit to mainland China. A planned meeting with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping during the trip has drawn scrutiny in Taipei as tensions soar across the strait. Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic...
Cheng Li-wun said she "gladly accepted" Xi Jinping's invitation and hopes to be a "bridge for peace".
Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) is showing signs of internal strain ahead of its leader’s planned visit to mainland China, with divisions over defence spending and ties with Washington and Beijing raising questions over the party’s strategic direction. KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun is set to go to mainland China with a delegation from April 7 to 12 on a trip that could include a meeting with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. The trip comes as the party remains divided over a contentious...