Taiwan opposition leader seeks to ease Washington's concerns over China stance during US trip

WASHINGTON: The leader of Taiwan's main opposition party said on Friday (Jun 12) that she had used a visit to the United States to correct "many misunderstandings" about her pro-engagement approach to China, amid strong criticism from hawks in Washington.

Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's largest opposition party, has been on a two-week US trip following her April visit to China, where she met President Xi Jinping.

She told reporters she had met nine members of the US Congress from committees dealing with finance, defence and foreign affairs, as well as academics and representatives of think tanks.

She said there were "many misunderstandings" about the KMT's approach.

Cheng's party, which along with its small ally the Taiwan People's Party has a majority in parliament, has faced sharp criticism in Washington for cutting by a third government plans to spend an extra US$40 billion on arms.

Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature last month passed a US$25 billion special defence budget to fund major US arms purchases, down from the original $40 billion proposed.

China hawks say the spending is essential to strengthen Taiwan's defences, with Republican Senator Dan Sullivan warning that the KMT was "playing with fire”.

Speaking in Chinese, Cheng said she believed her meetings had allowed her interlocutors to see "the real KMT and the real me", adding in English that she was "honest and candid … and they can tell it when they meet me in person".

She said US think-tank experts had suggested that the KMT should be more proactive in proposing its own defence spending legislation and added that the party was seriously considering this.

“To initiate the cross-strait dialogue with Xi Jinping doesn’t mean that we will give up the deterrence strength in Taiwan, and, of course, it doesn’t mean that we will compromise or give up our democracy and freedom,” Cheng said, dismissing accusations that she was doing Beijing's bidding.

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.

The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and has traditionally been its most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

Cheng praised both US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi, welcoming their summit last month as contributing to peace and stability.

She declined to comment on Trump's remark after meeting Xi that a pending US$14 billion US arms sale to Taiwan was a "very good negotiating chip", words that caused alarm in Taipei.

She said the issue had not come up in her Washington meetings.

She added that KMT is committed to the defence of Taiwan but that peace is possible by taking permanent secession off the table.

She also said that she shares common ground with Trump, who said after his May trip to Beijing that he was not “looking to have somebody go independent” or fight a war thousands of miles away.

“I think our basic stances are the same — that is peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and to avoid any unnecessary war,” Cheng said after a three-day visit to the nation's capital, where she met American lawmakers and scholars.

Cheng said she also met Trump administration representatives but would not offer more information.

Her two-week trip to the US to promote her party's approach to the Taiwan Strait has come at a time of rising uncertainty in US-Taiwan relations.

Xi has warned of a possible clash if the US does not properly handle the issue of Taiwan.

Congress has pledged to better arm Taiwan, giving preliminary approval to a US$14 billion arms sales package. The Trump administration has yet to greenlight it.

Cheng, whose party agrees that both sides of the strait belong to the same Chinese nation, has been promoting dialogue with Beijing. She said it is necessary for peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

Beijing has cut off official contact with Taipei's government for the past decade, because Taiwan’s ruling party does not recognise the “One China” principle.

Asked about her meeting with Xi, Cheng described the Chinese leader as “very gentle and very nice and very real” and said she believed Xi wanted to address the Taiwan issue “with peaceful means and avoid war”.