Xi Jinping is meeting the KMT chairman for the first time in such talks in nearly a decade

KAOHSIUNG – Taiwan: For the first time in nearly a decade, the supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and head of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, held a meeting with the chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition party. Cheng Li-wun, chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (also known as the Kuomintang, KMT), met with Xi in Beijing on Friday.

Before their meeting to close the door, the couple took pictures. Xi said that Taiwan is historically part of China and remains an “inalienable” and “inalienable” part of Chinese territory. He said the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” is a “broad trend” that will not change. Chinese state-controlled media and government officials often repeat these party lines, even though, after its founding in 1949, the Communist regime never ruled Taiwan for a single day.

The two met based on their positions as heads of their political parties. China refuses 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 narrowly lost control of parliament to an opposition coalition led by the KMT.

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The meeting comes as Taiwan faces a dispute over defense spending, with the opposition coalition blocking President Lai’s proposed $40 billion special defense budget. During his recent visit to Taipei, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said approval of the package would send a clear message that Taiwan is willing to invest in its defense and “powerful peace.”

Hours before Cheng and Xi smiled for the cameras, Lai did not directly address the Beijing meeting, but said on social media that any compromise with the authoritarian regime would harm Taiwan’s sovereignty. There are also concerns that if the special budget is not approved soon, President Donald Trump’s willingness to sell arms to Taiwan could change if Trump decides to strike some kind of deal with Xi at a possible meeting in May.

Xi’s term “Chinese national rejuvenation,” which was repeated by Cheng, refers to the goal of China becoming a world superpower by 2049, the centenary of the founding of the communist PRC.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, center, walks before an anti-terrorism exercise at Kaohsiung port in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (Chiang Ying-ying/AP)

In comments sure to stir controversy in Taiwan, Cheng echoed many of Xi’s words, saying that in more than 100 years of cooperation between the KMT and the CCP, “all we wanted was to guide the Chinese nation through decline and rejuvenation.” Cheng continued, “The great Chinese renaissance involves people on both sides of the strait. It is about the revival and rebirth of Chinese civilization.”

That’s not how many here in Taiwan see things. Rose Chou, 45, works as a principal at one of the largest elementary schools in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s southernmost major city and port. Chou told Fox News Digital that it is time for Taiwan to abandon any connection to being China or part of China. “Yes, I want the Republic of Taiwan. I have an 18-year-old son. And yes, I realize that we may have to fight. I am willing to fight.”

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A screenshot taken from a video shows the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command launching large-scale joint military exercises around Taiwan with China’s navy and military aircraft on May 24, 2024. Led by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), “coordinated operations inside and outside the island chain are being conducted to test combat capabilities and command to jointly occupy key areas,” said Li Xi, spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command. (Photo by Feng Hao / PLA / China Military/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Feng Hao/PLA/China Military/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Chou readily admitted that most people in the know like to maintain the status quo. A very small number, he said, have committed to the idea of ​​unity – but under what conditions they hope that will happen, Chou said he did not know.

Under the status quo since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the official name of Taiwan remains the Republic of China, to indicate by name that Taiwan is part of China, not just “Red China.” This formula previously satisfied the Communist regime in Beijing, but – especially since the rise of Xi Jinping – Beijing has pushed Taiwan into direct submission.

A meeting between the head of the KMT and the CPP hasn’t happened in almost a decade, but there is precedent. The KMT chairman met with Xi in 2015, and in 2016, and separately, in 2015, former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou met with Xi in Singapore, where each addressed the other as “Sir,” 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 US ambassador in Taipei, said, “The United States supports cross-Strait dialogue. We expect cross-Strait disputes to be resolved through peaceful means, without coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait. Taiwan’s democratically elected authorities unconditionally, while including communication with all other political parties in Taiwan.”

A 094A Jin-class nuclear-powered missile submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is seen during a military exhibition 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 China’s traditional KMT approach is no longer connecting with many Taiwanese voters. “KMT Chairman Cheng’s visit is trying to match Ma Ying-jeou’s approach to cross-Strait relations,” Larus said. “But that approach is 30 years old and no longer attractive to Taiwanese people. As a result, many people in Taiwan criticize his China trip.”

Larus said Beijing may also use the visit for domestic propaganda, citing it as evidence that Taiwan embraces cultural and social ties with China while positioning the government in Taipei as an outsider. “Cheng may be welcomed in Beijing,” Larus said, “but his party may receive a less enthusiastic reception” in local elections later this year and in the upcoming presidential and legislative elections in 2028.

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Taipei-based political risk analyst and Tamkang University assistant professor Ross Feingold told Fox News Digital, “President Lai’s DPP has an experienced press team, which has successfully shaped public opinion about China for years. After today’s meeting, Cheng and the KMT will be exposed as traitors willing to sell out Taiwan.”

He concluded by commenting, “However, in the end the success or failure of Cheng’s visit to China and meeting with Xi will be decided by Taiwanese voters, despite efforts from China and the United States to influence events. However, for the Trump administration, its immediate and long-term importance to Taiwan remains the legal approval to buy billions of dollars in American weapons and the immediate implementation of the 250 billion investment in Taiwan.”