Takeaways from Cheng Li-wun’s press conference about meeting with Xi Jinping
KMT chairwoman says that with talks in Beijing, her party has taken the first step to defuse tensions across the Taiwan Strait
It is the first time the leaders of the KMT and the Communist Party have met in nine years and comes at a time of heightened cross-strait military tensions.
Here are the main takeaways from the press conference.
A ‘choice of war or peace’
In a clear reference to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s criticism of her trip to the mainland, Cheng said she hoped that “no political party in Taiwan uses cross-strait peace as a tool” to get votes.
This mattered, she said, “because this is the choice of war or peace”.
Cheng framed her party’s dialogue with the Communist Party as a historical responsibility to avert war and to ensure cross-strait peace.
She said that while the KMT had taken the initial step to de-escalate tensions, the door remained open for all parties to engage in similar dialogue, provided they prioritised regional stability over the “selfish interests” of a single political entity.