Xi meets KMT leader
As Beijing warns against "Taiwan independence," analysts point to China's influence inside Taiwan's legislature
Welcome back to What’s Happening in China, your weekly China brief.
Unification is a “historical inevitability,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Cheng Li-wun, the controversial chair of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) party, on Friday in Beijing.
The meeting was described by various media as the first of its kind in a decade, but Brian Hioe of New Bloom noted that “of the last six KMT chairs who were not temporary acting chairs, four had traveled to China and met with Xi Jinping.”
Cheng, who also traveled to Shanghai and Nanjing, opposes Taiwan independence and advocates closer ties with China.
Speculation about an imminent invasion of Taiwan remains constant, and while Xi’s tone is threatening—“Taiwan independence is the chief culprit in undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait - we will absolutely not tolerate or condone it.”—Beijing is patient.
As Taipei-based journalist Chris Horton points out, “As the world speculates if and when Xi might choose to invade Taiwan, it overlooks the fact that he effectively…
