Cheng Li-wun, leader of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), travelled to China this week on a visit she described as aimed at easing cross-strait tensions. Speaking to reporters at Yangshan Port in Shanghai, Cheng invoked maritime and literary imagery to press a case for peace even as Beijing persists in routine military operations around Taiwan.
At the waterfront, Cheng referenced how ancient Norse mariners spoke of the sea as a "road of the whale," and said those words conveyed humility. She added that the proper occupants of the sky are birds, not missiles, and that fish, not warships, should be the denizens of the sea. Those comments were broadcast live on Taiwanese television stations.
Cheng also quoted, in English, lines from John McCrae's World War One poem "In Flanders Fields" - "If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep" - and framed her remarks around the obligation to pursue peace for both current and future generations. "We may not have been able to give our ancestors peace, but we can certainly still give peace to the people of today and the people of the future," she said.
The Shanghai visit is part of what Cheng has called a "peace" mission designed to reduce tensions at a time when Beijing has intensified military pressure on the island it regards as its own. Chinese authorities have declined to engage with Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, labeling him a "separatist." The Lai administration has urged Cheng to press China to cease its threats and has said Beijing should communicate directly with the democratically elected government in Taipei.
Cheng is scheduled to fly to Beijing late on Thursday for a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese military activity around Taiwan has continued during her trip: Taiwan's defence ministry reported that within the previous 24-hour period it had detected six Chinese military aircraft and eight warships in the vicinity of the island.
That operational tempo prompted criticism from members of Taiwan's ruling party. Michelle Lin, a lawmaker from the Democratic Progressive Party, wrote on her Facebook page that "the facts prove that the Chinese communists' military threat against Taiwan is intensifying." She added that "Cheng Li-wun has been on her trip for two days, and the Chinese communists still have a knife at Taiwan's throat."
President Lai has repeatedly offered to hold talks with Beijing while rejecting the mainland's sovereignty claims, saying that only Taiwan's people can determine the island's future. The trip by the KMT chair comes against this backdrop of continued military activity and political disagreement over who should represent and negotiate for Taiwan.
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