China’s Xi meets Taiwan Oppn leader for the first time in a decade

Beijing: President Xi Jinping on Friday said peace is the common wish of the people on both sides of the strait, but Taiwan’s independence is the chief culprit that is stalling unity, as he met Taiwan’s opposition leader Cheng Li-wun here. Cheng is the first Kuomintang (KMT) chairperson to visit China in a decade amid Beijing’s efforts to ramp up military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan to reintegrate with the mainland.

Their meeting comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China in May.

China claims Taiwan as part of it and pledges to reunite it with the mainland.

“Compatriots on both sides (of the strait) are both Chinese, and we need peace, we need development, we need communication, and we need cooperation. This is a common wish,” Xi said.

Xi said that “Taiwan independence” is the chief culprit undermining peace across the Taiwan Strait. “We should neither condone nor tolerate it,” he was quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as telling Cheng.

No matter how the international landscape and the situation across the Taiwan Strait may evolve, the overarching trend toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not change, and the prevailing momentum for the Chinese on both sides of the Strait to come together will not change, he said.agencies