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China<\/a>‘s President Xi Jinping<\/a> met Taiwan<\/a>‘s opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, telling the visiting delegation he had “full confidence” that Taiwanese and Chinese people would be united.<\/p>\n Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng is the party’s first leader to visit China in a decade, but her trip has sparked debate in Taiwan with critics accusing her of being too pro-Beijing.<\/p>\n China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen<\/a> of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing’s claims that the self-ruled island is part of its territory.<\/p>\n Xi told Cheng as the two met on Friday that “the general trend of compatriots on both sides of the Strait getting closer, edging nearer and becoming united will not change”.<\/p>\n “This is an inevitable part of history. We have full confidence in this,” Xi said during the talks carried by Taiwanese media.<\/p>\n He also said China was willing to strengthen dialogue with groups in Taiwan, including the KMT, on the “common political foundation of… opposing Taiwan independence”.<\/p>\n The KMT supports closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.<\/p>\n Read more<\/span><\/p>\n Read more<\/span>‘A lesson for Taiwan’s coastal defence’: How France’s ill-fated 1884 invasion is remembered<\/a><\/p>\n Cheng echoed Xi’s stance, telling a press conference after their meeting that by “opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war”.<\/p>\n She also told Xi earlier that the Taiwan Strait would “no longer be a focal point of potential conflict” and “both sides should transcend political confrontation”.<\/p>\n Beijing has sworn to take Taiwan and has not ruled out using force, ramping up military pressure around the self-ruled island in recent years.<\/p>\n China conducts near-daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near the island and regular large-scale military drills.<\/p>\n Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over the government’s plan to spend NT$1.25 trillion ($39 billion) on defence, which has been stalled for months in parliament, controlled by Cheng’s KMT party.<\/p>\n Cheng’s trip comes a month before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi.<\/p>\n The United States has been piling pressure on Taiwanese opposition lawmakers to back a proposal for defence purchases, including US weapons, to deter a potential Chinese attack.<\/p>\n Cheng has railed against the government’s proposal, insisting “Taiwan isn’t an ATM” and instead backed a KMT plan to allocate NT$380 billion ($12 billion) for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions.<\/p>\n While KMT party members regularly fly to China for exchanges with officials, its last leader to visit was Hung Hsiu-chu in 2016.<\/p>\n Cross-strait relations have worsened in particular since the election of Tsai’s successor, Lai Ching-te<\/a>, who Beijing considers a separatist.<\/p>\nDefence spending<\/h2>\n