Xi Jinping stresses ‘patience’ on Taiwan reunification in talks with opposition leader

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping appears to be taking a patient approach to reunification with Taiwan, according to the island’s opposition leader and a member of her delegation who attended a rare meeting with Xi in Beijing.

Xi met Cheng Li-wun, who leads Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang, and her delegation at the Great Hall of the People on Friday – the first talks between sitting leaders of the two parties in nearly a decade.

Discussing the cross-strait relationship, Xi said the issues had built up over a long period of time and had not happened overnight, Cheng told Taiwanese radio network the Broadcasting Corporation of China.

According to Cheng, Xi said that resolving those issues would take “the perseverance and patience of the foolish old man removing the mountains”, referring to a Chinese fable about an old man trying to dig away two mountains that were blocking the road in front of his home.

Cheng said Xi quoted another Chinese fable about determination and patience during their meeting – the story of Jingwei, a bird that tried to fill the sea with twigs and pebbles, carrying one at a time.

Xi also said he understood and respected that Taiwan had developed an entirely different social system and lifestyle to mainland China’s, according to Cheng, and that “shouldn’t Taiwan also acknowledge and respect the mainland’s achievements?”