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In a rare meeting with Taiwan\u2019s opposition leader, China\u2019s leader Xi Jinping<\/a> declared people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and want peace.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s meeting in Beijing between Xi and Cheng Li-wun, the chair of Taiwan\u2019s Kuomintang (KMT), is the first such contact in a decade. The visit has sparked controversy in Taiwan, with Cheng\u2019s critics accusing her of being too close to China, a country that many in Taiwan see as a threat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cheng has previously said<\/a> that it is a \u201cvery natural thing\u201d to identify as Chinese \u2013 a stance that is increasingly at odds with mainstream opinion in Taiwan where polling suggests<\/a> that two-thirds of people see themselves as being primarily Taiwanese.<\/p>\n Meeting Xi in Beijing, Cheng said that Taiwan<\/a> should \u201cno longer be a flashpoint for potential conflict\u201d and should instead become \u201ca symbol of peace jointly safeguarded by Chinese people on both sides of the strait.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheng arrived in China<\/a> on Tuesday and has visited several cities on her way to Beijing, including Nanjing, a former capital of China when it was ruled by the KMT before the Chinese Communist party (CCP) took power in 1949.<\/p>\n After their defeat by the CCP, the KMT fled to Taiwan<\/a>. The self-governing island has since been the subject of intense debate between its local rulers and the CCP in Beijing, which claims it as part of Chinese territory.<\/p>\n