Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun left for China on Tuesday on what she described as a “peace” mission, with the possibility of meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, as a senior Taiwanese minister detailed Chinese warship deployments around the island.
Cheng, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s largest opposition party, is travelling at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory, and as the opposition-dominated parliament stalls a government plan for $40 billion in additional defence spending.
Speaking to reporters before departing, Cheng described the visit as a “historic journey for peace”, while acknowledging unease among some in Taiwan.
“If you truly love Taiwan, you will seize even the slightest chance, every possible opportunity, to keep Taiwan from being ravaged by war,” she said.
“So I would rather believe that all Taiwanese people hope this trip will succeed, because we can transform the most dangerous place in the world into the safest place in the world.”
China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, refuses to engage with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, labelling him a “separatist”.
Chinese Warships
Late on Monday, Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, posted details of current Chinese warship deployments around the island two off the east coast and one each to the north, north-west and south-west.
“When you depart, you are doing so from within what they see as the ‘Taiwan cage’,” Kuan told reporters at parliament on Tuesday, referring to how China’s military has described Taiwan’s planned T-Dome air defence system and commenting on Cheng’s trip.
Speaking separately, Chiu Chui-cheng, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council minister, said Beijing should engage with Taiwan’s democratically elected government.
“We call on Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, when facing the Communist Party authorities in person, to demand that they immediately stop their compounded pressure against Taiwan, including military aircraft and naval harassment,” he added.
Timing and Wider Context
Cheng’s visit comes a month before U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Xi in Beijing.
While the two leaders could reach goodwill agreements on trade, including agriculture and aircraft parts, they are also expected to address areas of deep tension such as Taiwan, where little progress is anticipated.
In a February call, Xi told Trump that the United States “must carefully handle arms sales to Taiwan”.
This marks the first visit by a KMT leader to China in a decade, though Beijing has yet to confirm whether Xi will meet Cheng, who is due to be in Beijing from Thursday.
Her itinerary includes Shanghai before travelling by train to Nanjing, home to the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, who overthrew the last imperial government and founded the Republic of China in 1912.
The KMT-led republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists under Mao Zedong.
(with inputs from Reuters)
