Overview
- China announced 10 steps on Sunday to deepen ties, including exploring a routine Communist Party–KMT channel, expanding direct flights to more mainland cities, easing some tourist curbs, allowing select Taiwanese TV content, and facilitating farm and fishery imports that could affect travelers, viewers, and growers.
- Taiwan’s national security chief Tsai Ming-yen said Monday that any response to China’s offers must be led by the government, warning that such incentives have been used to sway voters ahead of elections, with key local races set for November.
- Xi Jinping met KMT chair Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday in the first top-level CPC–KMT encounter in a decade, where Xi pressed adherence to the 1992 Consensus and opposition to Taiwan independence, while Cheng cast the trip as a push for peace and resumed dialogue.
- Taiwan’s defense ministry reported 16 Chinese warplanes near the island on Friday during the hours of the Xi–Cheng meeting, highlighting Beijing’s twin track of offering benefits while applying military pressure.
- Scholars said the meeting also signaled Beijing’s position to the United States ahead of planned Xi–Trump talks, as Taipei’s Mainland Affairs Council cautioned that party-to-party outreach cannot replace state-led management of cross-strait ties.