Taiwan’s KMT calls off mainland China trip over CCTV headline

Uproar over state broadcaster’s ‘insult’ and refusal to apologise prompts cancellation of visit to Xiamen for cross-strait forum

Kuomintang says it won’t bar any members from attending but none will be able to go in an official capacity

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Former Taiwan legislature speaker Wang Jin-pyng was expected to head a KMT delegation to a forum in Xiamen but their trip has been cancelled. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:50pm, 14 Sep 2020Updated: 9:51pm, 14 Sep 2020

Taiwan’s main opposition party has called off plans to attend an annual forum on the mainland after state broadcaster CCTV refused to apologise for a programme headline.

Wang Jin-pyng, the former speaker of Taiwan’s legislature, had been expected to head a Kuomintang delegation at the cross-strait forum in Xiamen from Saturday but the attendance has been cancelled.

The cancellation was prompted by uproar on the self-ruled island over a headline on a mainland CCTV current affairs programme on Thursday, which read: “With the [Taiwan] strait on the brink of war, this man [Wang] is coming to beg for peace.”

The headline immediately drew criticism from the island’s public and politicians, including those of the KMT and the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, with the headline seen as highly insulting and contemptuous of the Taiwanese.

President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier Su Tseng-chang urged the KMT to boycott the event.

The KMT later asked for an apology from CCTV, but the demand was not met.