Xi hosts Taiwan’s opposition leader in 1st such meeting in over a decade

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Taiwan's opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, in the first such meeting in over a decade.

The Kuomintang (KMT) party chairwoman visited Jiangsu province and Shanghai before traveling to the capital, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.

She vowed "reconciliation" and "unity" across the Taiwan Strait during her visit to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, the capital of China's eastern Jiangsu province.

The last KMT chief to meet with Xi was in 2015, when then-chairman Eric Chu met him in China.

The visit is seen as an important step in dialogue and exchanges between the KMT and China's Communist Party.

Cheng was elected as chairwoman of the KMT in October 2025.

China considers Taiwan its "breakaway province," while Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.

The visit has also assumed significance as Xi is set to host US President Donald Trump next month.