Chinese President Xi meets Taiwan's KMT Chairman for first time in 10 years

Xi Jinping, China's President and Communist Party General Secretary, met with Eric Chu, chairman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in Beijing on the 10th. This meeting between a sitting Chinese leader and the head of a major Taiwanese political party was the first in 10 years.

During the meeting, Xi emphasized that "compatriots across the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese," and that the future of cross-strait relations should be in the hands of the Chinese people themselves, based on a common political foundation of adhering to the '1992 Consensus' and opposing 'Taiwan independence.' He added that the trend of people across the Strait interacting and moving forward together will not change.

Chu proposed that based on the common political foundation of upholding the '1992 Consensus' and opposing 'Taiwan independence,' cross-strait relations should design and build a more institutionalized and sustainable dialogue and cooperation mechanism. He expressed his intention to invite Xi Jinping if a change in government occurs in Taiwan.

Xi stated he would help Taiwan's economy by expanding visits by Taiwanese compatriots to the mainland and increasing the entry of Taiwanese agricultural, fishery, and industrial products into China.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te recently stated his position that 'freedom or peace cannot be gained by compromising with authoritarianism.'