China’s Xi Meets Taiwan’s Opposition Leader Amid Beijing’s Military Threats

The meeting comes as Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s $40 billion special defense budget is stalled in the opposition-controlled parliament.

A television shows the meeting between Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng Li-wun and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, at a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 10, 2026. I-Hwa Cheng / AFP via Getty Images

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Taiwan’s main opposition leader in Beijing on April 10, amid China’s escalating military pressure on the island and a dispute in Taiwan’s parliament stalling a major defence spending plan.

Xi held talks with Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), who arrived in China on April 7 at the invitation of the Chinese leader. It marks the first meeting between Xi and a KMT leader since 2016.