Overview
- Xi Jinping met KMT chair Cheng Li-wun on Friday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the first such talks with a sitting KMT leader in nearly a decade.
- Both sides called for peace and cited the 1992 Consensus, a loose understanding that both see “one China” even as each defines it differently, while rejecting formal Taiwan independence.
- Taiwan’s ruling DPP and security officials warned the trip advances Beijing’s united-front tactics as Chinese jets and ships keep near-daily pressure around the island.
- Cheng’s KMT has stalled a roughly US$40 billion special defense budget for U.S. arms, and a bipartisan U.S. delegation urged lawmakers last week to pass it.
- The meeting comes weeks before a planned May Xi–Trump summit, which analysts say Beijing aims to influence by showcasing a channel to Taiwan’s opposition and pressing its case against more U.S. weapons for Taipei.