The Cheng-Xi Gambit: Inside the KMT’s Bold Plan to Sidestep the ‘1992 Consensus’

According to sources, the "KMT-CCP Forum" that has been suspended for 9 years is confirmed to restart! It is expected that KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen will lead KMT think tank professionals to mainland China for exchanges, marking the "opening move" for cross-strait ice-breaking and reconciliation since KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun took office. After news of the KMT-CCP Forum's resumption spread, Cheng Li-wun officially accepted a media interview on the 10th for clarification. This interview was extremely "substantive" and can be broken down into "3 key points." The cross-strait exchange momentum led by the KMT and CCP in 2026 is expected to be "quite spectacular."

The KMT-CCP Forum began in 2005, and its official name is... At that time, KMT Chairman Lien Chan traveled to mainland China for a "peace journey" and met with then CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao. Both sides agreed to establish a regular communication platform between the two parties, which became the KMT-CCP Forum. The last KMT-CCP Forum was held in November 2016, when KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu personally participated and met with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping. The KMT-CCP Forum held 11 sessions in total. After 2016, the DPP came to full power, and there were many voices within the KMT reviewing cross-strait discourse. Under various complex factors, the KMT-CCP Forum was suspended for 9 years.

According to sources, Cheng Li-wun has great ambition to restart the KMT-CCP Forum that has been suspended for 9 years. In terms of concrete operations, Cheng Li-wun also emphasized that if successfully restarted, it cannot be like in the past, where leaders from both sides simply met, shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and then expressed their own views. This "ceremonial" approach obviously can no longer make people feel its impact. What Cheng Li-wun wants is for both sides of the strait to exchange successful experiences from their respective governance, striving to ensure that the results of KMT-CCP exchanges can truly benefit people on both sides of the strait.

Currently, it is rumored that the KMT-CCP Forum will be held in Beijing from January 27 to 29. Cheng Li-wun has also been constantly questioned by media about related topics recently. According to analysis, from Cheng Li-wun's public interview content, she did not deny the news that the KMT-CCP Forum would restart, but many details such as attendees are still being finalized.

At the same time, according to sources, the KMT-CCP Forum that has been suspended for 9 years is indeed "confirmed to restart." The content of Cheng Li-wun's media interview on the 10th has already roughly revealed the framework of the entire forum and its underlying political implications. Overall, Cheng Li-wun's statements on the 10th had "3 key points": First, the CCP side indeed has active interest, hoping to improve cross-strait relations through restarting the KMT-CCP Forum; Second, the forum content is expected to highlight "professionalism" to reduce the impact of sensitive "political" topics such as the "1992 Consensus"; Third, to guide the DPP, so that the DPP can also conduct cross-strait exchanges following the bridge built by the KMT.

The smooth restart of the KMT-CCP Forum after 9 years of silence depends not only on Cheng Li-wun's vigorous promotion, but also on the attitude of the mainland side, which is very crucial. Cheng Li-wun pointed out during her interview on the 10th that since she took office, communication and dialogue with the other side have been very smooth, and she has felt that the other side has relatively shown "sincerity" and "goodwill."

According to sources, what Cheng Li-wun said is true. In fact, during this round of communication to restart the KMT-CCP Forum, the mainland's attitude has been unexpectedly active. The mainland side also hopes to do something to make breakthroughs in cross-strait exchanges, to avoid having only military threats and dangers as the sole topic between the two sides, as well as negative speculation by Taiwan independence advocates. Therefore, the KMT and CCP can be said to have hit it off immediately, and both sides did not encounter too many difficulties in preliminary communication.

According to sources, when the KMT internally assessed whether to restart the KMT-CCP Forum, on one hand they understood that it would be impossible to bypass the common political foundation of the "1992 Consensus" and "opposition to Taiwan independence," and on the other hand they were also careful to avoid negative political operations from the DPP, which would not only make the results of KMT-CCP exchanges come to nothing, but might also cause division between the KMT central and local leaders who will face the 2026 nine-in-one elections.

Cheng Li-wun pointed out during her interview on the 10th that she hopes to open a "new path" for cross-strait peace. The "new path" mentioned here refers to focusing the KMT-CCP Forum on exchanges in "professional" fields, thereby diluting the impact of cross-strait political issues such as the 1992 Consensus, while also allowing both sides to move beyond "unification-independence debates" and bring the peoples of both sides closer through exchanges of opinions on practical governance matters.

This is why Cheng Li-wun mentioned various possible exchange topics for the KMT-CCP Forum during her interview, including "disaster prevention," "climate change," "carbon neutrality," "energy," "low birth rate," "aging population," etc., and has already started having the KMT think tank conduct research.

According to sources, for example, in disaster prevention, Taiwan is often affected by earthquakes and typhoons, and this field will be a topic that Taiwan excels in and can share for the mainland to learn from. The KMT-CCP Forum will not be a one-sided learning experience where Taiwan learns from mainland governance experience. Therefore, it is expected that the dialogue team led by Hsiao Hsu-tsen will likely include former cabinet officials from when the KMT was in power, not just KMT central personnel. The key point of all this is still to transform exchanges of opinions in professional fields into actual policies that can benefit people on both sides of the strait, and dilute the impact of political topics such as the 1992 Consensus on Taiwan society.

Cheng Li-wun also emphasized that the other side hopes to ease the dangerous military situation across the strait and begin dialogue and exchanges between the two sides based on the "1992 Consensus" and "opposition to Taiwan independence." Cheng Li-wun also emphasized that the DPP can actually do this too, it's not difficult at all, as long as the DPP "abandons the Taiwan independence platform" and "returns to the 1992 Consensus," there will be no other additional conditions.

According to Cheng Li-wun's remarks, the successful convening of this KMT-CCP Forum also has a strong "guiding" meaning for the DPP. As long as they can "abandon the Taiwan independence platform" and "return to the 1992 Consensus," the DPP can also initiate exchanges with the other side, and there will be no other additional conditions.

However, basically the DPP cannot possibly abandon its own political line. Although Cheng Li-wun's attitude was casual when talking about "abandoning the Taiwan independence platform" and "returning to the 1992 Consensus," for the DPP, it's simply an impossible mission.

Therefore, although these remarks have the intention of guiding the DPP, essentially they are also conveying to the Taiwan people, and even to the United States, that to restart cross-strait dialogue and exchanges, thereby reducing military risks, probably only the KMT can do it.

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