KMT chair Cheng mum on reported late-January summit with CCP

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Kuomintang (KMT) Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) remained tight-lipped Saturday on a reported summit with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) late this month and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), saying only that any talks would "not be conducted in secret."

Online news publication Meihua Media reported on Friday that the KMT and CCP are set to resume their long-suspended dialogue -- the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, better known as the "KMT-CCP Forum" -- from Jan. 27-29 in Beijing.

The forum will see the KMT delegation led by Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), the report said, citing anonymous sources.

While Cheng had teased the previous day that she would provide a "public explanation" regarding reports of the KMT-CCP Forum, she offered few specifics when talking to reporters at an event in Taichung on Saturday.

Cheng noted that she has sensed a spirit of "sincerity and goodwill" from Beijing regarding cross-strait communication since she became KMT chair in November, prompting the KMT to actively prepare for resumed exchanges.

However, the KMT chair gave a list of potential topics to be discussed, such as the pursuit of a zero-carbon society, climate change mitigation, and disaster prevention, as well as demographic challenges, such as low birth rates and aging populations, and the development of artificial intelligence.

Building on the historic 2005 meeting between then KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese leader Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the KMT-CCP Forum was launched in 2006 and held almost annually until 2016, when it was suspended following the KMT's loss of power after eight years in office.

Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城), a spokesperson for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on Friday dismissed Cheng's plan to revive the KMT-CCP Forum as a move to "test the waters" for a potential meeting with Xi, suggesting that the opposition party is using the mechanism to gauge public reaction before moving forward.

Lee said that the DPP found the KMT's eagerness to engage with Beijing and align with its narratives on Taiwan regrettable, especially at a time when Beijing continues to employ military threats and diplomatic pressure against the island.