Taiwan’s KMT to send high-level delegation to mainland China forum despite Taipei’s warnings against being ‘united front tool’

Kuomintang vice-chairman Andrew Hsia will lead trip to Xiamen to take part in annual Straits Forum, which kicks off on Friday

Island authorities ban government officials from attending event they say is meant to make Taiwanese drop guard against threat of Beijing attack

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Wang Huning, the head of Beijing’s top political advisory body, is expected to address the opening of the Straits Forum in the mainland city of Xiamen. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00am, 15 Jun 2023Updated: 9:38am, 15 Jun 2023

Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, will send a high-level delegation to take part in the annual Straits Forum in the mainland city of Xiamen later this week despite repeated warnings by the island’s authorities.

KMT vice-chairman Andrew Hsia will lead the delegation composed of senior officials, including those from the party’s mainland affairs department and national security research unit, to attend the two-day event that begins on Friday, the party said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the KMT said by sending its delegates to the forum, it hoped to help resume official exchanges and dialogues that have been suspended since 2016.

“Promoting mutual understanding and exchanges between the people across the strait should be one of the important jobs of all political parties” in Taiwan, it said.

As civilian exchanges resume in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the KMT wants to continue to act as a bridge between the island and the mainland to protect the interests of the Taiwanese people at a time when official exchanges remain blocked, according to the statement.

In February, the KMT’s Hsia led a delegation on a visit to mainland China, where he met senior officials involved in cross-strait issues. Photo: Weibo

Beijing, which sees Taiwan as its territory and does not renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control, has suspended official exchanges and dialogues with Taipei since Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party was elected president in 2016 and refused to accept the one-China principle.