Chinese President Xi Jinping told Taiwan’s main opposition leader that the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China is a “historical inevitability,” during an unusual high-level meeting in Beijing that underscores rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
Xi made the remarks during talks Friday with Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang (KMT). The meeting comes at a sensitive moment as China continues to conduct military drills near the self-governed island and voices opposition to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
While the talks did not produce any major agreements, the timing is significant. The meeting took place just weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit Beijing, suggesting China is seeking to demonstrate that it can influence Taiwan politically as well as militarily.
During the meeting, Xi emphasized shared cultural ties between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, highlighting what he described as common heritage and bloodlines. He also warned against moves toward Taiwan independence.
“Taiwan independence is the chief culprit destroying peace in the Taiwan Strait,” Xi said, according to an official readout of the meeting. “We absolutely will not tolerate it or allow it.”
Taiwan is a self-governed island of about 23 million people, but China considers it part of its territory and has long vowed to eventually reunify with it, by force if necessary.
Cheng, speaking at a press conference in Beijing after the meeting, stopped short of endorsing China’s reunification goal but said improving relations with Beijing was necessary to maintain stability.
“We hope to consolidate a stable relationship,” she told reporters. “This must be done step-by-step. General Secretary Xi and I are very pragmatic about this.”
Cheng’s approach toward China has made her a controversial figure in Taiwan’s political landscape. Earlier in her career, she was known as a student activist advocating for Taiwan’s independence and frequently criticized the Kuomintang for its historically closer ties with Beijing.
Her meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People — typically reserved for foreign heads of state — highlighted the dramatic shift in her political stance.
Cheng has repeatedly argued that Taiwan must engage China diplomatically to avoid the risk of conflict.
“We must do everything in our power to prevent a war in the Taiwan Strait,” she said in a previous interview in Taipei. “Instead of being a troublemaker, we need to be a peacemaker.”
The meeting also comes amid political tensions inside Taiwan. Cheng’s opposition to President Lai Ching-te’s proposal to increase defense spending by $40 billion over the next eight years has delayed approval of the government’s defense budget.
That delay could also affect a proposed $14 billion U.S. arms package for Taiwan, which has reportedly been paused by the Trump administration ahead of a planned summit with Xi.
Despite ongoing military pressure from China, Cheng avoided publicly criticizing Beijing during her visit. She also declined to confirm whether U.S. arms sales were discussed during the talks with Xi.
China regularly sends fighter jets, drones and naval vessels near Taiwan, actions Taipei describes as intimidation. Beijing, however, frames the activities as necessary to deter what it calls separatist forces.
Cheng began her multi-day trip to China with a visit to Nanjing, the former capital of the Republic of China when it was governed by the Kuomintang before the party fled to Taiwan in 1949 following its defeat by the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese civil war.
Despite deep political divisions, Cheng suggested the meeting itself demonstrated that dialogue between the two sides remains possible.
“At a moment when the whole world is deeply pessimistic and when people dare not even hold expectations for cross-strait relations,” she said, “it is actually not as difficult as everyone imagined.”
