cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/8261407

The leader of Taiwan’s largest opposition party arrived in China at the invitation of Xi Jinping on Tuesday for a “peace mission” at a time of increased military tensions between the self-governed island and the mainland.

Cheng Li-wun’s trip marks the first visit by a Kuomintang (KMT) leader ​to China in a decade … Cheng said at her party headquarters in Taipei she had embarked on a “historic journey for peace”, but added that some people feel uneasy about the visit. “If you truly love Taiwan, you will seize even the slightest chance, every possible opportunity, to keep Taiwan from being ravaged by war,” the KMT chief said in defence of her visit. China sees Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out reunification by force, if necessary.

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Lai [Ching-te, Taiwan’s president], viewed as a separatist figure by Beijing, has called for ramping up Taiwan’s defence capabilities and bolstering the self-governed island’s defence budget, drawing lessons from multiple conflicts around the world, including the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Cheng-led opposition bloc, which dominates parliament, has also been accused of blocking a $40bn special defence budget since November 2025, which Lai has been pushing for to bolster Taiwan’s military muscle against China’s People’s Liberation Army.

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Cheng did not address the increasing military escalation from across the Taiwan Strait where China has been sending warplanes and naval vessels around the smaller island on a near-daily basis. China’s PLA forces have also recently staged two major military exercises around the island, with the most recent one in December, after the US announced arms sales to Taiwan and involved the deployment of air, naval and missile units for a joint live-fire drill.

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Late on Monday, Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the coast guard, posted a picture on her Facebook account of current Chinese warship deployments around the island – two off the east coast, and one each to the north, northwest and southwest.

“When you depart, you are doing so from within what they see as the ‘Taiwan cage’,” Kuan told reporters at parliament on Tuesday, referring to how China’s ​military has termed Taiwan’s planned T-Dome air defence ​system and talking about Cheng’s trip.

Lawmakers in Taiwan slammed the visit, saying that the opposition leader is following the steps China wants her to. “From the fact that the accompanying journalists were chosen by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, to the use of a Chinese aircraft, and even the uncertainty before departure over whether she would be able to meet president Xi, KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wen’s visit to China was, from the moment she boarded the plane, locked into the ‘One China’ framework,” said Fan Yun, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

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The opposition, according to the lawmaker, is ignoring the obvious ground reality as public opinion polls in Taiwan show that support for unification has fallen below 10 per cent.

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Regional experts say the trip serves Cheng little but benefits China more.

“Cheng’s visit won’t fundamentally change China’s calculation and preparation for a potential reunification with Taiwan. For Beijing, her trip primarily serves propaganda and diplomatic signalling purposes,” says William Yang, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst.

For Xi’s domestic audience, the visit will display the government’s progress on the mission of reunification with Taiwan, he says.

“Cheng’s remarks during the trip, which will focus on calling for peace and reiterating her opposition to Taiwan independence, will be amplified by Chinese state media to try to exacerbate division within Taiwan,” he says.

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