China Xi congratulates new Taiwan opposition leader, urges adherence to ‘one-China’ principle

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping congratulated the newly elected head of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang on Sunday, ­urging the KMT to stick to an understanding that both the mainland and Taiwan are part of China.

According to state-run Xinhua, Xi’s note to Wu Den-yih, a former vice-president of Taiwan who became the new KMT chairman on Saturday, underscored the need for the “1992 consensus”, an agreement that there is one China. Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refuses to acknowledge the consensus.

Wu said the two sides should deepen understanding of the 1992 consensus.

Wu, 69, won half of the votes cast in the KMT election but will face the daunting challenge of rebuilding the beleaguered party after he takes office on August 20.

The KMT suffered a crushing defeat by the independence-leaning DPP in last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

It has also been battered by fierce infighting and is in dire financial straits. The KMT’s multibillion-NT-dollar assets were frozen by the government as part of an ongoing investigation into what were deemed ill-gotten assets acquired during the party’s five decades in power.