“The world today is far from peaceful, making peace more precious,” China’s President Xi Jinping said in opening remarks at a meeting with Cheng Li-wun, chair of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) party. Speaking as head of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi added that “the leaders of the two parties are meeting today to safeguard the peace of our shared home, and to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”
Cheng echoed the emphasis on peace, saying the two parties should pursue institutional solutions to prevent war and “thereby make the Taiwan Strait a model for world peace and conflict resolution.” Both leaders reiterated opposition to Taiwan independence, though neither explicitly mentioned unification.
Michael Cunningham, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, described Xi’s remarks as largely routine, noting they contained nothing directly threatening to Taiwan or indicating any urgency to push for unification. “It’s basically how they see it: Someday Taiwan will be governed by Beijing, and it’s nothing that they seem to have any pressure to push because it’s something they believe is going to happen,” he said.
KMT supports closer ties with Beijing
The KMT, Taiwan’s main opposition party, has traditionally favored closer ties with China while opposing formal independence. After the 2024 elections the KMT became the largest party in the Legislative Yuan, giving it significant influence over lawmaking and the ability to constrain President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government. Cheng, long viewed as sympathetic to improved relations with Beijing, is the first Kuomintang leader in ten years to visit China, at a moment of heightened strain with the DPP, which Beijing does not recognize as legitimate.
China regards self-governed Taiwan as its territory destined for eventual incorporation into the mainland and reacts strongly to moves that suggest formal independence. The Xi-Cheng meeting marked a rare high-level cross-strait exchange since Beijing suspended dialogue in 2016 after the DPP won the presidency.
Trump’s role in cross-strait relations
With a US-China leaders’ summit expected next month, analysts say Xi could use Cheng’s visit to press US President Donald Trump to soften his language on Taiwan or halt arms sales. In Taipei, President Lai warned against false notions of peace, saying “Compromising with authoritarians comes only at the expense of sovereignty and democracy. It will not bring freedom, let alone peace.”
The KMT-led majority in the Legislative Yuan has blocked Lai’s proposed supplementary defense budget of NT$1.25 trillion, which includes potential arms purchases from the US. China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated its opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan even as the island remains heavily dependent on American weapons.
William Yang, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Xi could ask Trump to scale back or stop arms sales and might use a refusal as leverage — for example by declining a planned Mar-a-Lago visit. Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said Xi’s peace messaging could be aimed at Washington as much as Taipei: “If Xi can ask Taiwan to stop advocating for arms purchases from the US, he can tell Trump to halt the sales.” Chong also suggested Cheng’s visit could mobilize pro-Beijing voters and weaken pro‑Washington voices within the KMT ahead of Taiwan’s legislative midterm elections in November.
Yang added the talks could resonate amid rising public fears of conflict as attention to other global hotspots grows, contributing to declining Taiwanese trust in the US. Cunningham noted the peace narrative could help Xi press Trump to adopt softer language endorsing a peaceful “resolution” of the Taiwan issue: “Xi can tell Trump in May: ‘Taiwan wants a peaceful resolution. We want a peaceful resolution. Don’t you want a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue as well?'”
Military pressure continues
Despite the rhetoric on peace, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported detecting 15 Chinese aircraft sorties and 24 naval vessels operating around Taiwan since Cheng departed for China. “China’s military coercion and threats of military actions weren’t de-escalated because of Cheng’s visit,” Chong said. While the meeting showed Beijing’s willingness to engage in dialogue, observers cautioned that the substance of any concessions or concrete steps remains unclear.
Additional reporting by: Chia-Chun Yeh in Taipei
Edited by: Ole Tangen Jr