Taiwan opposition leader to visit China as Beijing ramps up ‘reunification’ push

TAIPEI, April 6 (Reuters) – Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun leaves on Tuesday for China and a potential meeting with President Xi Jinping on what she says is a peace mission as Beijing makes a renewed push to convince Taiwanese to support “reunification”.

Cheng, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s largest opposition party, is travelling at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory, and as the opposition-dominated parliament stalls a government plan for $40 billion in extra defence spending.

The KMT and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have released duelling social media messages ahead of the trip, using the imagery of war and peace.

“Peace is the only foundation for prosperity, and the hope for Taiwan’s future,” the KMT said on Sunday, putting out a video featuring young people relaxing on the ground, in a pool and smiling while looking up at the stars.

The DPP shot back in a Facebook post that the KMT was trying to “cooperate with the Chinese communists’ scheme to weaken Taiwan’s defence capabilities”, pointing to the delay in passing defence spending, plans the U.S. government has backed.

Cheng told foreign reporters last month that “peace cannot possibly be achieved through defence capabilities alone” and political efforts were equally indispensable.

She is going to China a month before U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Xi in Beijing.

While the two sides could strike goodwill agreements in Beijing on trade in agriculture and aircraft parts, they are also expected to discuss areas of deep tension such as Taiwan, where little progress is expected.

In a February call, Xi told Trump that the U.S. “must carefully handle arms sales to Taiwan”.     

This is the first trip by a KMT leader to China in a decade, though China has yet to confirm whether Xi will definitely meet Cheng, who will be in Beijing from Thursday.

Last week, Taiwan’s China-policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said Cheng should tell Beijing to stop its military threats and respect the Taiwanese people’s right to choose their own future.

China refuses to speak to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, saying he is a “separatist”.

CHINA’S ‘REUNIFICATION’ PUSH     

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, but says its preferred option is “peaceful reunification”.

It has stepped up efforts in recent weeks to try and persuade Taiwanese of the benefits, including energy security, which Taiwanese officials have rejected.

On Friday, the Eastern Theatre Command, which would lead any attack on Taiwan, published a cartoon picture of what “Taiwan province” would look like during the traditional Tomb Sweeping Festival, marked on Sunday, if it were united with China.

People lay flowers at a “Monument for the complete reunification of the motherland”, in front of another sign showing the location – Taipei’s Machangding Memorial Park, where accused communist spy Wu Shi was executed by the KMT government in 1950.

KMT forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.

Opinion polls in Taiwan have repeatedly shown minimal support for accepting Beijing’s sovereignty under its “one country, two systems” model.

Asked at the news conference with foreign reporters about her views on “reunification”, Cheng said the time was still far from ripe for such a discussion.

“What we need to deal with now is how to create peaceful and stable cross-strait relations,” she said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Kate Mayberry)