EditorialTaiwan Kuomintang leader’s visit to mainland China gives reason for hope

Xi’s invitation to Cheng, elected KMT chairperson less than six months ago, follows positive signals from the opposition leader in Taiwan. Cheng has reasserted unequivocal support for the one-China principle and opposition to independence, clearly setting the KMT under her leadership apart from the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

While the KMT has been out of government for 10 years, Cheng’s visit can still be meaningful for cross-strait communications and understanding. That the invitation comes from Xi personally, in his capacity as head of the Communist Party, speaks volumes.

Song Tao, head of Beijing’s Taiwan Work Office, said the party central committee and the general secretary would welcome Cheng’s visit to Jiangsu province, Shanghai and Beijing to “promote the peaceful development of relations between the Communist Party and Kuomintang as well as across the Taiwan Strait”.

Cheng has stressed that the visit will be conducted under the KMT’s long-standing framework – opposition to Taiwan independence and adherence to the 1992 consensus, which Beijing insists is the basis for engagement. “By opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war; through the 1992 consensus, we can create peace,” she said. “We want to demonstrate … that conflict across the strait is not inevitable.” That is what the world needs to hear amid a struggle to contain geopolitical tension, global uncertainty and armed conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Therefore, it is to be hoped that Cheng’s trip can lay the groundwork for a new step towards reducing tensions and securing a peaceful cross-strait relationship. In that regard, it is telling that while the People’s Liberation Army may conduct military activities around Taiwan from time to time, it doesn’t mean that Beijing has given up on peaceful options.