KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan: In a significant political development, Xi Jinping, the supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China and head of its Communist Party, convened with Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan’s primary opposition party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT), in Beijing on Friday. This marks the first such meeting in nearly ten years.

Prior to their private discussions, Xi and Cheng posed for photographs. In his remarks, Xi reiterated that Taiwan is historically and unalterably a part of China, emphasizing it as an “inalienable” and “inseparable” region of Chinese territory. He underscored the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” as an unstoppable “broader trend.” These statements echo the familiar rhetoric of China’s state media and officials, despite the fact that the Communist Party has never governed Taiwan since its own inception in 1949.

Significantly, this meeting was between the political heads, as China refuses to engage with Taiwan’s democratically elected government, currently led by President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP has secured presidential victories in 2016, 2020, and 2024, although it lost parliamentary control in 2024 to a coalition dominated by the KMT.

In an image released by Xinhua News Agency, Xi Jinping is seen shaking hands with Cheng Li-wun in Beijing, captured on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP)

The encounter unfolds against the backdrop of a contentious debate over Taiwan’s defense budget. An opposition coalition, including the KMT, is currently blocking President Lai’s proposed $40 billion defense package. During a recent visit to Taipei, U.S. Senator Jim Banks, R-Ind., stressed that passing this budget would signal Taiwan’s commitment to “peace through strength” by investing in its own security.

Just hours before Cheng and Xi’s public appearance, President Lai refrained from commenting directly on the Beijing meeting. However, he voiced on social media that compromising with authoritarian regimes could jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty. Additionally, there are speculations regarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s readiness to sell arms to Taiwan, which could be influenced by any forthcoming diplomatic negotiations with Xi, possibly during a meeting in May.

Xi’s phrase “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” which was repeated by Cheng, is a reference to the goal of China becoming a — if not the — major world power by 2049, the centennial of the founding of the communist PRC. 

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

In comments that are sure to evoke controversy in Taiwan, Cheng repeated much of Xi’s phrasing, claiming that in the more than 100 years of interactions between the KMT and the CCP, “all we ever wanted is to guide the Chinese nation out of decline and toward rejuvenation.” Cheng went on to say, “The great Chinese rejuvenation involves people on both sides of the strait. It is about the reawakening and resurgence of Chinese civilization.”

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

A screen grab captured from a video shows the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command launching large-scale joint military exercises around Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in China on May 24, 2024. Led by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), “integrated operations inside and outside the island chain are being conducted to test the command’s capabilities to jointly take battlefield control and launch joint strikes, and to seize control of crucial areas,” Li Xi, the spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said. (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 she knows favor maintaining the status quo. A very small number, she said, are committed to the idea of unification — but under what terms they hope that could occur, Chou said she didn’t know. 

Under the status quo that dates from the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, Taiwan’s official name remains the Republic of China, to nominally indicate that Taiwan is a part of China, just not “Red China.” This formula previously satisfied the communist regime in Beijing, but — especially since Xi Jinping’s rise — Beijing has pushed Taiwan towards outright submission.

A meeting between the head of the KMT and the CPP hasn’t happened in almost a decade, but there is precedent. A KMT chair 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 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 expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait. Meaningful cross-Strait exchange should focus on dialogue between Beijing’s leadership and Taiwan’s democratically elected authorities without preconditions, while also including engagement with all other 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 display in the South China Sea April 12, 2018.  (Reuters/Stringer)

Elizabeth Freund Larus, a Taiwan Fellowship Scholar in Taipei, told Fox News Digital the KMT’s traditional China approach no longer connects with much of Taiwan’s electorate. “KMT Chair Cheng’s trip is trying to replicate Ma Ying-jeou’s approach to cross-Strait relations,” Larus said. “But that approach is 30-years old and no longer appeals to the Taiwanese. As a result, many people in Taiwan are critical of her China trip.”

Larus said Beijing is also likely to use the visit for domestic propaganda, presenting it as proof that Taiwan embraces cultural and social affinities with mainland China while casting the government in Taipei as an outlier. “Cheng may be welcomed in Beijing,” Larus said, “but her party may receive a less enthusiastic reception” in local elections later this year and in the next presidential and legislative elections in 2028.

Taipei-based political risk analyst and Tamkang University assistant professor Ross Feingold told Fox News Digital, “President Lai’s DPP has a savvy media team, which for many years has successfully shaped public opinion towards China. Following today’s meeting, Cheng and the KMT will be portrayed as traitors willing to sell out Taiwan.”

He concluded by noting, “Ultimately, though, the success or failure of Cheng’s visit to China and meeting with Xi will be determined by Taiwan’s voters, despite efforts from China and the United States to influence events. For the Trump administration, though, its near-term priority in Taiwan remains legislative approval to purchase billions of dollars of American weapons and speedy implementation of Taiwan’s commitment to invest $250 billion in the United States.”