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1h ago

Xi Meets Taiwan Opposition Leader Cheng in Beijing in First Talks in a Decade

Beijing courts the KMT to bypass Taiwan's government.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, right shakes hands with Kuomintang (KMT) party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, April 10, 2026.
A television shows the meeting between Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng Li-wun and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, at a restaurant in Taipei on April 10, 2026.
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Taiwan opposition leader calls for ‘reconciliation’ after meeting Xi

Overview

  • Xi Jinping met KMT chair Cheng Li-wun on Friday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the first meeting with a sitting KMT leader in about ten years.
  • Both leaders stressed peace, rejected Taiwan independence, and cited the 1992 Consensus, a one-China formula the KMT uses as the basis for engagement.
  • Taiwan’s ruling DPP blasted the trip as too close to Beijing as the KMT-led legislature continues to block a NT$1.25 trillion (about US$39–40 billion) special defense bill that U.S. visitors urged lawmakers to pass.
  • The talks came weeks before President Donald Trump’s planned May visit to China, with reports pointing to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and Beijing’s stated opposition to those deals.
  • China refuses high-level contact with President Lai Ching-te and has kept up regular military flights and drills near Taiwan, which puts pressure on Taipei even as Beijing promotes party-to-party dialogue.