Cheng-Xi Summit: A Handshake Across the Taiwan Strait

April 11—Taiwan's KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun met Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday morning, April 10, capping her April 7-12 visit to the mainland and marking the first meeting between the leaders of the two parties in ten years.

The two shook hands before cameras for 14 seconds before sitting down with their delegations for the meeting. What Cheng said in her characteristically emphatic public remarks was striking in its ambition. She called for both parties to “transcend political confrontation” and build lasting, institutionalized mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation grounded in the 1992 Consensus—the modus vivendi under which both sides agree there is one China, while leaving the exact meaning of that phrase deliberately open. She expressed hope that “the Taiwan Strait will no longer become a focal point of potential conflict, nor a chessboard for external powers.” And she closed with a personal invitation that no KMT leader had dared extend before: “I sincerely hope that one day in the future, I will have the opportunity to be the host and welcome General Secretary Xi and all of you here present in Taiwan.”

That is a vision of a different future from the one the world has been bracing for.

'We Are One Family'

The Xinhua account of Xi’s remarks emphasized that “compatriots on both sides of the strait are Chinese people and one family” and “the overarching trend toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is irresistible.” Xi stressed that the two parties had a role to play in achieving peace and tranquility, and better lives for people on both sides: “This is a responsibility that the CPC and the KMT cannot shirk, and also a driving force for the two parties to work together.”

This is the highest-level cross-strait contact since former KMT President Ma Ying-jeou met Xi in Singapore in 2015. It comes five weeks before Trump’s planned May 14-15 summit with Xi in Beijing, at which Taiwan—including a pending $11 billion U.S. arms sale—is expected to be a central topic. Cheng has positioned herself, and the KMT, ahead of that conversation.

DPP Is Furious

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was predictably furious. Legislator Fan Yun called Cheng’s remarks a “letter of surrender.” DPP Secretary-General Hsu Kuo-yung demanded that Xi should be told that Taiwan is a sovereign independent state, and questioned whether the KMT’s continued blocking of the special defense budget amounted to a “gift” to Xi. President Lai Ching-te wrote on Facebook that his government supports peace, “but not unrealistic fantasies.” He said that “compromising with authoritarian regimes only sacrifices sovereignty and democracy.”

Cross-strait communications have been almost completely frozen during the DPP rule over Taiwan this past decade. Cheng went to the mainland, spoke plainly, and has reestablished open communications in a fraught region of the world, giving reason for hope that the conflict can be resolved peacefully and for the good of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Xi: We Respect Our Differences

At a press conference following the meeting, Cheng reported that Xi Jinping said, with regard to their differences, “the Mainland respects Taiwanese compatriots’ social system and their chosen way of life, which are different from those of the Mainland.”

Regarding Cheng’s proposal that Taiwan again join such organizations as the World Health Assembly, she reported that he responded that “the proposals and expectations I put forward in my remarks, every single one of them, could be actively and comprehensively studied, coordinated, and facilitated.”

Taiwan-based analyst Angelica Oung, writing on X, offered a concise summary of the meeting’s significance: “We restored the status quo we had under Ma. Of course, KMT is not in power right now. But Cheng convinced the mainland that it’s possible.” She added that even if the KMT loses the 2028 presidential election, the détente could hold if the DPP signals willingness to respect it—and that by that time, Taiwan’s dependence on the U.S. as a security guarantor may look even less tenable.