Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Cheng Li-wun/Facebook
KMT CHAIR Cheng Li-wun has called for a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Such calls occurred shortly after Cheng’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month. A meeting between Trump and Xi is scheduled for this month. Cheng is herself scheduled to set off on a ten-day visit to the US in June.
Cheng is likely hoping to moderate her pro-China image in Taiwan. Indeed, during her meeting with Xi, Cheng emphasized that the CCP and KMT alike should combat Taiwanese independence. Such comments immediately alarmed, seeing as this suggests that the KMT should align with a historic enemy in order to target the DPP. To this extent, Cheng is seen as continuing to block the passage of defense spending, in spite of the fact that this weakens Taiwan’s defenses against China at a time of rising Chinese military activity.
Historically, individuals able to maintain control of cross-strait policy have been able to rule over the KMT, as was true of former president Ma Ying-jeou and Lien Chan before him. But that
Cheng is hoping to moderate her image shows that she has presidential ambitions. Cheng’s possible challengers at present are Taichung mayor Lu Shiow-yen and Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an, who are generally seen as more moderate than Cheng on cross-strait relations. If Cheng is able to dominate the KMT at present, with reports that she has silenced those in the party who dissent from her, Cheng may next be looking to beat out potential competitors for the presidential nomination.
Cheng may also be seeking to frame the KMT as having achieved a diplomatic breakthrough that the DPP has been unable to achieve. After all, Lai Ching-te has certainly not been able to meet with Trump during his tenure so far, while his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen only achieved a phone call with Trump when he was president-elect. Likewise, Lai has not always been allowed to stop over in the US. Given the political sensitivity, Taiwanese presidents are not allowed to make formal visits to the US, instead such visits are sometimes conducted as stopovers.
Calling for a meeting with Trump proves a clever move by Cheng, in that Cheng is taking advantage of the increased international publicity she has from her meeting with Xi. Indeed, a KMT chair normally does not enjoy the international publicity that Cheng has managed to achieve. And much of international news covered Cheng’s visit to China as it were that of an elected political leader, whose views represented the majority of the Taiwanese public.
There are certain quarters of the Trump administration that may simply hope for the Taiwan problem to go away. The prospect of handing Taiwan off to the KMT, with the view that the KMT will maintain stable cross-strait relations in a manner that the US no longer needs to worry about Taiwan, may be appealing to some within the Trump administration. It is perhaps those quarters of the Trump administration that Cheng is hoping to appeal to.
If Cheng were able to achieve a meeting with not only Xi, but Trump, this would be more than simply another feather in her cap. If Cheng were to achieve such a meeting, Cheng would probably be able to outfight any other prospective contender for the KMT presidential nomination.
It is unclear what a Cheng-Trump meeting would result in. After all, Trump is, if anything, a US president who is averse to the details of policy and probably does not understand what historic US policy on Taiwan is. It is possible that such a meeting would result in Trump making concessions to China in a way that undermines the historic US position on Taiwan. In this sense, such a meeting is highly dangerous for Taiwan.
It is unclear if calling for a Trump meeting is Cheng’s own gambit or could have potentially been devised in coordination with China. During her meeting with Xi, Cheng had already outlined several steps that China could take so as to strengthen her hand in the KMT. Namely, this would be allowing Taiwan to join trade blocs such as the CPTPP and RCEP, as well as participate in the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization.