Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s biggest opposition party, the Kuomintang, highlighted the need for peace as she spoke to the media in Beijing on Friday afternoon after her historic meeting with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.
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.
