On March 30, a senior Chinese official announced that President Xi Jinping (習近平) had formally invited Kuomintang Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to lead a delegation to China. The historic visit, scheduled for early April, will culminate in a highly anticipated meeting between the two political leaders.
Cheng later enthusiastically accepted the invitation at a press conference, reiterating the party's firm support for the 1992 Consensus. She also controversially stated that the international community upholds a one-China policy and explicitly rejects Taiwan independence, drawing widespread public attention.
In an exclusive interview with Storm Media, Professor Chao Chun-shan(趙春山) addressed these developments, explaining that the summit is primarily aimed at restoring high-level party exchanges after a decade. He advised Cheng to strictly avoid discussing unification, as any such discussion would amount to empty talk and stir domestic unease in Taiwan.
Chao explained that the Chinese Communist Party's willingness to meet the KMT leadership remains completely independent of the party's current political standing. He cited previous historic meetings between Xi and various KMT leaders during both ruling and opposition periods as established diplomatic precedent.
While Chao found no fundamental problem with Cheng's remarks at the press conference, he did criticize her broader geopolitical commentary as unnecessary. Stating that the entire world upholds a one-China policy risks creating severe public confusion regarding Taiwan's delicate international status.
He noted the international community generally interprets "one China" as directly referring exclusively to the People's Republic of China.Chao believed thatCheng should have simply reaffirmed the KMT's established positions, which already contain deliberate and protective strategic ambiguity on the subject.
The Limits Of Party-To-Party Agreements
Chao emphasized that Cheng's visit to Beijing has the straightforward, limited purpose of restoring institutionalized high-level dialogue after a ten-year gap. The trip offers a crucial opportunity to clarify the party's policy direction and establish internal coherence ahead of looming local elections.
However, the professor warned that the more fundamental problem remains the total absence of a domestic consensus within Taiwan. Because massive policy differences exist between Taiwan's major parties, any agreements reached in Beijing will lack the foundation needed for implementation.
Chao strongly urged the Taiwanese public against placing unrealistically high expectations on the upcoming political summit. While the KMT carries representational weight in the legislature, any outcomes requiring actual policy implementation ultimately depend entirely on the governing party.
Avoiding Geopolitical Minefields
The professor advised Cheng to actively avoid discussing complex geopolitical issues like international arms purchases and cross-strait unification. Because the KMT is not currently in power, raising such sensitive matters would produce absolutely no actionable diplomatic results.
Discussing these topics could instead generate massive anxiety within the party regarding the meeting's potential impact on year-end local elections. He suggested Cheng strictly confine her formal discussions to cross-strait peace and the practical concerns of Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China.
Cheng previously stated that a key purpose of the summit is to demonstrate that cross-strait military conflict is not fundamentally inevitable. Chao agreed, noting that because war remains an extension of politics, issues resolvable through political means never require military force.
Original Article in Chinese
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