TAIPEI (Reuters) – A senior leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party, is in China for meetings with the Taiwanese community, his party said on Thursday, a highly sensitive visit one month before elections on the island.
The previously unreported trip of KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia, a former Taiwanese diplomat and one-time head of Taiwan’s China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council, comes as his party seeking to narrow the ruling party’s lead ahead of the Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The vote will affect Taiwan’s future relations with China, which views the island as its own territory and has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those sovereignty claims.
Hsia, who arrived on Wednesday, is visiting Chengdu, Nanchang, Zhongshan, Xiamen and Chongqing at the invitation of the Taiwanese business community in China and will attend events with them, the party said in a statement sent to Reuters.
“This trip is mainly to continue the achievements and goals of the past few visits to mainland China,” it said.
“Through participating in activities, (the party) cares about Taiwanese businesspeople and Taiwanese compatriots, listens to everyone’s opinions, and contributes to the peace, stability and prosperity of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” the statement said.
The Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the KMT statement did not say whether Hsia plans to meet them.
A source briefed on the trip, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that Hsia was likely to meet Taiwan Affairs Office officials.
Hsia has been to China at least three times in the last year and a half, including a controversial visit in August 2022 shortly after China staged war games around the island in response to a Taipei visit by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)
