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Xinlu Liang

The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang met Trump ally Steve Daines and other US lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday.
In those talks, KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun outlined the party’s position on defence and energy, saying her party did not oppose American arms sales to the island, according to Taiwan’s United Daily News.
Her meetings on Wednesday also included talks with Republican representatives John Rose and Chuck Fleischmann, and Democratic Representative Thomas Suozzi.
According to the report, Cheng told lawmakers that the KMT deeply valued military cooperation with Washington but all defence acquisitions had to be financially sound and in line with legislative procedures.
She highlighted the KMT’s legislative backing for a NT$780 billion (US$26 billion) special defence budget, noting that while the funding was lower than the NT$1.25 trillion requested by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, it was more than double her party’s previous proposals.


Washington is the main stop for Cheng’s multi-city US tour, which has already taken in San Francisco, Boston and New York.
The trip comes just two weeks after a summit in Beijing between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump, and two months after Cheng’s meeting with Xi on the mainland.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to arming Taiwan.
Washington has repeatedly urged Taipei to increase its defence budget while Beijing has consistently urged Washington to end arms sales to Taiwan.
Around the time of the summit, Washington paused the sale of US$14 billion in weapons to Taiwan, a decision some observers saw as a concession to Beijing.
Asked about Taiwan after the summit in Beijing, Trump said he was not looking to have “someone go independent”, adding: “You know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles [15,300 km] to fight a war. I’m not looking for that.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore late last month that any decision regarding future arms sales to Taiwan would rest with Trump, although he insisted that US policy had not changed.


Daines is widely regarded as a trusted ally of Trump and has operated as a vital, quiet diplomatic backchannel throughout Trump’s two administrations.
In May, he led a five-member Senate delegation to Beijing and Shanghai to pave the way for the summit.
This included talks with Premier Li Qiang, who stressed that the Taiwan question was a core interest for Beijing and the first red line that must not be crossed in Sino-US relations – a message Xi underlined during his meeting with Trump.
But in his talks with Cheng on Wednesday, Daines focused on energy and resource security instead of cross-strait relations, according to the United Daily News report.
Rose, meanwhile, highlighted his home state’s status as a major hub for advanced nuclear technology and discussed future industrial cooperation with Taiwan, the report added.
Suozzi, a newly appointed member of the influential House select committee on the Communist Party, asked the KMT leader about cross-strait relations, adding that he had been advised against meeting Cheng but chose to hear from her first-hand, the report said.
Representative Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also met Cheng to discuss cross-strait stability, the Taipei Times reported.
According to the United Daily News, Cheng said the lawmakers she had met on the trip were open-minded and eager to engage with her directly to understand the KMT’s positions.
She said the exchanges were healthy and positive and showed that US members of Congress had a high degree of independence.


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Cheng tells US lawmakers that the Kuomintang deeply values defence cooperation with Washington: report


Cheng tells US lawmakers that the Kuomintang deeply values defence cooperation with Washington: report.


KMT chief Cheng Li-wun meets Trump ally Steve Daines in Washington

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Cheng tells US lawmakers that the Kuomintang deeply values defence cooperation with Washington: report

Cheng tells US lawmakers that the Kuomintang deeply values defence cooperation with Washington: report