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Kaohsiung, Taiwan: For the first time in nearly a decade, Supreme Leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping met with the chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition party. Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (also known as the Kuomintang, KMT), met with Xi in Beijing on Friday.
The couple posed for pictures before the closed-door meeting. Xi said Taiwan is historically part of China and remains an “inalienable” and “inalienable” part of Chinese territory. He said that the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” is a “broad trend” that will not change. China’s state-controlled media and government officials often repeat these party lines, even though since its establishment in 1949, the Communist regime has not ruled Taiwan for a single day.
Both met as heads of their respective political parties. China refused to talk to Taiwan’s democratically elected government led by President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP won Taiwan’s presidential elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024, although in 2024 it lost control of the parliament to the KMT-led opposition coalition.
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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, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP)
The meeting comes as Taiwan is embroiled in a controversy over defense spending, with the opposition coalition blocking President Lai’s proposed $40 billion special defense budget. During a recent visit to Taipei, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said approval of the package would send a clear message that Taiwan is ready to invest in its defense and “peace through strength.”
Hours before Cheng and Xi smiled for the cameras, Lai did not directly mention the Beijing meeting, but said on social media that any agreement with the authoritarian regime would harm Taiwan’s sovereignty. There are also concerns that if a special budget is not approved soon, President Donald Trump’s willingness to sell arms to Taiwan could change, with Trump deciding to strike some kind of deal with Xi at a possible meeting in May.
Xi’s phrase “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, which was repeated by Cheng, is a reference to China’s goal of becoming one of – if not the – dominant world power by 2049, the centenary of the founding of the communist PRC.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-tey walks before an offshore anti-terrorism exercise at the Port of Kaohsiung in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (Chiang Ying-ying/AP)
In comments that are sure to stir controversy in Taiwan, Cheng repeated most of Xi’s phrases, claiming that in more than 100 years of interaction between the KMT and the CCP, “we only wanted to guide the Chinese nation out of decline and toward rejuvenation.” Cheng added, “The Great Chinese Rejuvenation involves people on both sides of the strait. It is about the revival and revitalization of Chinese civilization.”
That’s not how many people watch things in Taiwan. Rose Chou, 45, works as an administrator at one of the largest elementary schools in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan’s largest city and a major port. Chow told Fox News Digital that it is time for Taiwan to abandon any ties to China or being part of China. “Yes, I want the Republic of Taiwan. I have an 18-year-old son. And, yes, I realize we may have to fight. I’m willing to fight.”
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Screen taken from a video shows the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command launching large-scale joint military exercises around Taiwan with naval ships and military aircraft in China on May 24, 2024. Under the leadership of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), “integrated operations are being conducted inside and outside the island chain to test the command’s capabilities to jointly take control of the battlefield and launch joint attacks and seize control of important areas,” said PLA Eastern Theater spokesman Li Xi. Order, said. (Photo by Feng Hao/PLA/China Military/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Feng Hao/PLA/China Army/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Chow quickly acknowledged that most people she knows favor maintaining the status quo. A very small number of people are committed to the idea of unification, he said — but under what conditions he expects that to happen, Chow said he doesn’t know.
Under the status quo since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China, nominally indicating that Taiwan is a part of China, not “Red China”. This formula previously satisfied the Communist regime in Beijing, but – especially since the rise of Xi Jinping – Beijing has pushed Taiwan toward complete surrender.
There has not been a meeting between the heads of the KMT and the CPP for almost a decade, but the precedent exists. A KMT chairman met Xi in 2015, and again in 2016, and separately, in 2015, then-Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou met Xi in Singapore, during which each addressed the other as “Mister” and the titles used were “Leader of Taiwan” and “Leader of Mainland China”, respectively.
In a statement after the meeting, a spokesperson for the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei, said, “The United States supports cross-Strait dialogue. We hope that cross-Strait differences will be resolved by peaceful means, free of coercion, in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait. Meaningful cross-Strait exchanges should focus on dialogue between Beijing’s leadership and Taiwan’s democratically elected officials without any preconditions, while all others “Also includes affiliations with political parties in Taiwan.”
A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is seen during a military demonstration in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. (Reuters/Stringer)
Elizabeth Freund Larus, a Taiwan Fellowship scholar in Taipei, told Fox News Digital that the KMT’s traditional China view no longer connects with most Taiwanese voters. “KMT Chairman Cheng’s visit seeks to reiterate Ma Ying-jeou’s approach to cross-Strait relations,” Larus said. “But that approach is 30 years old and no longer appeals to Taiwanese. As a result, many people in Taiwan are critical of his visit to China.”
Laruse said Beijing could also use the visit for domestic propaganda purposes, presenting it as evidence that Taiwan embraces cultural and social similarities with mainland China, while portraying the government in Taipei as an outsider. “Cheng may be welcomed in Beijing, but his party may get a less enthusiastic welcome in local elections later this year and the next presidential and legislative elections in 2028,” LaRusse said.
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Ross Feingold, a Taipei-based political risk analyst and assistant professor at Tamkang University, told Fox News Digital, “President Lai’s DPP has a savvy media team that has successfully shaped public opinion toward China for many years. After today’s meeting, Cheng and the KMT will be portrayed as traitors willing to sell out Taiwan.”
He concluded by saying, “Ultimately, despite efforts by China and the United States to influence events, the success or failure of Cheng’s visit to China and meeting with Xi will be determined by Taiwanese voters. For the Trump administration, however, its near-term priority in Taiwan remains legislative approval for billions of dollars of U.S. arms purchases and prompt implementation of Taiwan’s commitment to invest $250 billion in the United States.”
