KMT Chairwoman Visits Mainland China, Seeks Meeting With Xi Jinping

Cheng Li-wun became the first sitting Kuomintang chairperson to set foot on mainland China in a decade when she landed in Shanghai on Tuesday, opening a six-day visit that she framed as a "journey for peace" and that her political opponents immediately labeled a "summons."

The KMT chairwoman, who accepted Xi Jinping's formal invitation after Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office director Song Tao announced it on March 30, traveled from Shanghai to Nanjing by train to visit the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, the KMT's founding father. A meeting with Xi in Beijing is widely expected to take place on Thursday, April 10, which would mark the first encounter between a sitting KMT chairperson and China's top leader since 2016.

The timing carries dense diplomatic weight. The visit comes approximately one month before a scheduled summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Xi in Beijing in May 2026, where Taiwan is expected to feature prominently on the agenda. Taiwan-based experts said Xi views the meeting with Cheng as an opportunity to shape the narrative on Taiwan ahead of those talks. One analyst described Xi's engagement as "a classic example of united front tactics."

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party and its Mainland Affairs Council pushed back sharply. MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh stated that "trying to cut off Taiwan's military procurement from the US, as well as Taiwan's cooperation with other countries, is the objective of this so-called summons." The council alleged a possible quid pro quo: the KMT stalling Taiwan's arms procurement in exchange for the Cheng-Xi meeting. That accusation lands in a charged context. The KMT-dominated legislature is simultaneously blocking President Lai Ching-te's proposed NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget, roughly US$40 billion, while the Trump administration in December 2025 announced a US$10 billion-plus arms sales package to Taiwan that included medium-range missiles, howitzers, and drones.

Cheng rejected those characterizations directly. "This trip is entirely for cross-strait peace and stability, so it has nothing to do with arms procurement or other issues," she told reporters before departing Taipei. She also pushed back against the binary framing of Taiwan's geopolitical position: "Little children choose. Taiwan wants it all." At a press conference, she added that "the two sides of the Strait are not destined for war, nor do they need to remain on the brink of military conflict."

The last KMT chairperson to travel to mainland China was Hung Hsiu-chu in 2016, a visit that drew sharp criticism across Taiwan. China severed high-level contact with Taipei that same year after DPP's Tsai Ing-wen won the presidency and rejected Beijing's claims over the island. Cross-strait relations deteriorated significantly in the years since, with China escalating near-daily military exercises around Taiwan's 23 million people.

Cheng's own political biography adds layers of complexity. In her earlier years, she supported the Taiwan independence movement and described both the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party as "tyranny." Taiwan security officials noted that her 2025 KMT chairmanship campaign was promoted on social media through accounts linked to the CCP. The current visit is grounded in the 1992 consensus framework, a tacit understanding between the KMT and Beijing acknowledging "one China" while leaving each side free to interpret what that means.

Political analyst Lev Nachman argued the trip gives the KMT a chance to tell voters they "are the ones who can actually lead Taiwan towards the direction of peace and stability." Cheng has said she intends to visit the United States no later than June 2026, having insisted on meeting Xi before making that trip. A few dozen supporters and detractors gathered at Taipei's airport Tuesday to mark her departure.