Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, held a press conference at 11 am. on Monday at Sun Yat-sen Hall at the Kuomintang's central headquarters to address her visit to the mainland. Photo: Screenshot from website

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, have invited Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, to visit the Chinese mainland from April 7 to 12, a CPC official announced on Monday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Song Tao, head of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, was authorized to announce that Cheng is welcome to lead a KMT delegation to visit Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing on the mainland.

Song noted that since taking office, Cheng has expressed her willingness to visit the mainland on multiple occasions, and that the invitation was extended to promote the relations between the CPC and the KMT and the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.

The two sides will carry out communication regarding the visit to make proper arrangements, Song said.

Cheng Li-wun, chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, on Monday expressed her thanks and accepted the invitation to visit the Chinese mainland in April, according to Xinhua.

Cheng expressed the hope that both parties will work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, enhance exchanges and cooperation, contribute to peace in the Taiwan Straits, and improve people's well-being.

According to China Review News Agency, Cheng held a press conference at 11 am on Monday at Sun Yat-sen Hall at the Kuomintang's central headquarters to address the issue. She was accompanied by KMT Vice Chairmen Chang Jung-kung and Hsiao Hsu-tsen, with Yin Nai-ching, head of the party's Department of Culture and Communications, serving as moderator.

Cheng said her mainland visit would go ahead as scheduled, without any changes. She stressed that, based on opposition to "Taiwan independence" and adherence to the 1992 Consensus, the purpose of the trip is to show both the people of Taiwan and the world that the two sides of the Taiwan Straits are not fated to go to war. Rather, she said, they can rely on their own wisdom and efforts to chart a broad path toward peace, contributing to cross-Straits stability, regional peace, and the well-being of future generations.

Taiwan media outlets covered the news extensively. For instance, CNA reported on Song's announcement, which was subsequently picked up by several other local news organizations. 

According to Taiwan-based media outlet China Times, citing analysis by mainland scholar Bao Chengke, the visit not only symbolizes a warming of interactions between the CPC and the KMT but is also seen as sending an external signal that cross-Straits relations remain "controllable and stable." Bao noted that since Cheng was elected KMT chairperson in October last year, the two sides have exchanged congratulatory messages, reaffirming efforts to advance party-to-party and cross-Straits relations on the basis of the 1992 Consensus and the one-China principle. 

Against the backdrop of intensifying international narratives portraying tensions across the Taiwan Straits as escalating toward conflict, Bao said the high-level meeting between the CPC and KMT carries a clear declaratory effect, demonstrating that political forces on both sides of the Straits still possess the capacity to maintain peace and stability through dialogue.

While a report from Taiwan region's "Broadcasting Corporation of China" noted that Song Tao's official remarks were notably brief, with further details expected at the Taiwan Affairs Office's regular press conference on Wednesday, April 1. Cheng has repeatedly said she hoped to visit the mainland first and then the US in the first half of this year. The mainland's formal announcement on March 30 inviting her to visit has therefore fueled expectations that the closely watched a meeting between the head of the CPC and KMT could soon take place.

The report also noted that the mainland has on multiple occasions publicly expressed its willingness, on the common political foundation of upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence," to strengthen exchanges with the KMT at all levels, enhance political mutual trust, and maintain positive interaction in pursuit of peace across the Taiwan Straits, greater well-being for compatriots, and national rejuvenation. The last sitting KMT chair to visit the mainland was Hung Hsiu-chu, who, as party chair, traveled to Beijing and Nanjing in late October and early November 2016.