Xi Sells 'Peace' to KMT as Trump Summit Looms
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- Xi Jinping hosted KMT chair Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on April 10, 2026 — the first KMT leader to visit China in 10 years — with both sides emphasizing 'peace' and opposing Taiwan independence, though neither mentioned unification.
- Analysts Michael Cunningham (Stimson), William Yang (ICG), and Ja Ian Chong (NUS) told DW that Xi's peace rhetoric was largely routine, but could be leveraged at an expected May US-China summit to push Trump toward softer Taiwan language or a halt to arms sales.
- Taiwan's KMT-led legislature has blocked President Lai's proposed NT$1.25 trillion (€34.33 billion / $40.2 billion) supplementary defense budget, which includes potential US arms purchases — a key Chinese grievance just as Beijing renewed its opposition to those sales.
- Yang warned that if Trump doesn't respond to the peace framing, Xi 'might decline to visit Mar-a-Lago later this year' — giving Beijing a visible, high-cost diplomatic lever.
- Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense detected 15 PLA aircraft sorties and 24 naval vessels operating around the island since Cheng's Wednesday departure; Chong stressed 'China's military coercion and threats of military actions weren't de-escalated because of Cheng's visit.'
- Cheng's visit could mobilize pro-Beijing voters and weaken pro-Washington voices in the KMT ahead of Taiwan's November legislative midterms, per Chong.
- President Lai, in a Taiwan Relations Act anniversary speech, pushed back: 'Compromising with authoritarians comes only at the expense of sovereignty and democracy. It will not bring freedom, let alone peace.'
Why it matters: Xi now arrives at the May Trump summit with a ready-made script: Taiwan's own largest party is blocking $40.2 billion in defense spending, and a KMT leader has just publicly endorsed 'peace.' That gives Trump political cover to soften language or pause arms sales — or face the cost of Xi publicly snubbing a Mar-a-Lago visit, as Yang flagged. Lai's ability to deter coercion is being squeezed from two sides: Beijing's unresolved military activity and Taipei's opposition-controlled legislature.
