The head of Taiwan's opposition met with Xi Jinping. What you need to know

Chinese Leader Xi Jinping and Chairman of the Taiwanese Kuomintang Party Zheng Liwen met in Beijing. This visit could be a turning point in China's relations with the island and reduce tensions between them. The Taiwanese opposition leader's trip came at a time when frustration is growing on the island with the United States over the ongoing conflict with Iran. The situation in Taiwan due to the situation in the Middle East is described in the Izvestia article.

How was the visit of the head of the Kuomintang to Beijing

• These days, Kuomintang Party Chairman Zheng Liwen is on a long trip to mainland China. For the leader of an association that waged a civil war against the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) in the past, this is the first such visit to China in ten years. Zheng Liwen's program includes visits to Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu Province.

• On April 10, Zheng Liwen held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was also the first such event in a decade. At the meeting, the Chinese leader said that Beijing wants to intensify dialogue with Taipei and welcomes rapprochement with compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The Head of State called this trend inevitable.

• At the same time, Xi Jinping stressed that China will never recognize Taiwan's independence. He called this development the main reason that could undermine peace in the region. In response, Zheng Liwen refrained from refuting and stressed that she supports the creation of mechanisms for dialogue and diplomatic exchanges, which were interrupted in 2016.

What is the complexity of China-Taiwan relations?

• Relations between China and Taiwan have been strained since 1949. Then the Kuomintang Party was defeated in the civil war and evacuated to the island, declaring control over it from the Republic of China, while the Communist People's Republic of China was proclaimed on the mainland. At that time, the rest of the world recognized the Kuomintang Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese state. Taiwan even had permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

• Beijing has never recognized Taiwan as independent, and the island administration has not renounced its claims to the mainland territory. But over time, it was the PRC that began to seek recognition from the world community and be seen as a full-fledged representative of the Chinese people. In 1971, she assumed a seat on the UN Security Council, and most countries established diplomatic relations with Beijing. Taiwan has continued to develop independently all this time, becoming a de facto separate multiparty state.

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• In 1992, representatives of the PRC and the Republic of China reached some agreement on their status. Both public entities recognize the unity of China, albeit in their own interpretation. The Kuomintang has recognized this consensus as fundamental in its relations with the PRC. The consequence of this was that many countries of the world began to establish independent relations with Taiwan, while recognizing the legal sovereignty of the PRC over the island. Only 11 countries in the world, mostly small island states, consider Taiwan to be China's legitimate representative.

What does the meeting between Zheng and Xi mean?

• Zheng Liwen's visit to China is primarily important for Taiwan's domestic policy. The Kuomintang is in opposition to President William Lai, who represents the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and at the same time has a majority in the island's parliament. The DPP rejects the concept of a single Chinese state and advocates the island's full independence from the PRC. The confrontation with the presidential party is part of the political struggle in the Kuomintang's attempt to regain full power lost in 2016.

• At the same time, the building of bridges between the Kuomintang and the PRC is also a reflection of the current global processes that have taken place in recent months. The war between the United States and Israel with Iran has led to two important consequences for Taiwan. Firstly, it caused the global energy crisis, which particularly affected the island. Taiwan exports 40% of hydrocarbons from the Middle East, but these supplies have stopped due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The island is still using the available reserves, but they will run out in the coming months. Taiwan is facing economic decline, and the opposition has the right to consider the United States to be the culprit.

Secondly, the United States failed to demonstrate significant military superiority during its Iranian campaign. Washington has used up its stockpile of precision weapons and will now be forced to replenish its arsenals for several years. The American army has failed to fully protect its Middle Eastern allies from Iran's retaliatory strikes. All this has become an alarming factor for Taiwan. The island's leadership is counting on the protection of the United States in a hypothetical conflict with China, but recent events have shown how untenable this assistance may be.

• All this greatly undermines the US position in Taiwan and casts a shadow on the ruling DPP, which focuses its policy on Washington. For this reason, the Kuomintang prefers to engage in dialogue with Beijing rather than continue the confrontation that the island began to conduct during the Joe Biden administration. This resulted in the visit of the head of the party to China, and the blocking of the defense budget of $ 40 billion, which provides for the purchase of American weapons worth up to $ 10 billion.

• The Kuomintang usually advocates a rather cautious establishment of relations with China, trying not to lose popularity among voters who generally favor the sovereignty of the island. However, the prevailing skepticism about the United States pushed Zheng Liwen, who led the party in 2025, to take more active action. Her visit to China should help ease tensions in the region, restore the status quo in relations with Beijing and reduce the likelihood of a military conflict. Taiwan has no other way until the United States can end the conflict with Iran and return its attention to East Asia.