BEIJING: China’s President Xi Jinping met Taiwan’s opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday (Apr 10), Chinese state media said.
Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng is the party’s first leader to visit China in a decade, and has said she hopes to sow the “seeds of peace” during her trip.
Her visit has sparked debate in Taiwan with critics accusing her of being too pro-Beijing.
China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing’s claims to the island.
Beijing claims Taiwan is its territory and does not rule out using force to take it.
China has ramped up military pressure around Taiwan in recent years with near daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near the island and regular large-scale military drills.
Cross-strait relations have worsened particularly since the election of Tsai’s successor, Lai Ching-te, who Beijing considers a separatist.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-xi-jinping-taiwan-kuomintang-leader-cheng-li-wun-first-visit-decade-6048356
