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Taiwan opposition leader meets Xi in Beijing as Taiwan defense fight intensifies
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KAOHSIUNG – Taiwan: For the first time in nearly a decade, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) supreme leader and the head of the communist party, Xi Jinping, held a meeting with the chairperson of Taiwan’s main opposition party. Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (also known as the Kuomintang, KMT), met Xi in Beijing on Friday.
Before their closed-door meeting the pair posed for pictures . Xi said that Taiwan is historically a part of China and remains an «inalienable» and «inseparable» part of Chinese territory. He said the «rejuvenation of the Chinese nation» was a «broader trend» that will not change. China’s state-controlled media and government officials often repeat these party lines, even though, after its establishment in 1949, the communist regime has not ruled Taiwan for a single day.
The two met in their capacities as heads of their respective political parties. China refuses to speak to the democratically elected government of Taiwan, led by President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP won Taiwan’s presidential elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024, although in 2024 it narrowly lost control of the parliament to an opposition coalition led by the KMT.
TAIWAN ‘WILL NOT ESCALATE, BUT WILL NOT YIELD’ TO CHINESE INTIMIDATION, FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, right shakes hands with Kuomintang (KMT) party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP)
The meeting came as Taiwan is mired in a dispute over defense spending, with the opposition coalition blocking President Lai’s proposed $40 billion special defense budget. During a recent visit to Taipei, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said approval of the package would send a clear message that Taiwan is prepared to invest in its own defense and «peace through strength.»
Hours before Cheng and Xi smiled for the cameras, Lai did not directly mention the Beijing meeting, but said on social media that any compromise with an authoritarian regime would damage Taiwan’s sovereignty. There are also concerns that if the special budget isn’t approved soon, the willingness of President Donald Trump to sell weapons to Taiwan could change should Trump decide to strike some kind of deal with Xi at a possible meeting in May.
Xi’s term «rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,» which was repeated by Cheng, is a reference to the goal of China becoming a – if not the – major world power by 2049, the centennial of the founding of the communist PRC.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, center, walks before an offshore anti-terrorism drill at the Kaohsiung harbor in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (Chiang Ying-ying/AP)
In comments that are sure to evoke controversy in Taiwan, Cheng repeated much of Xi’s phrasing, claiming that in the more than 100 years of interactions between the KMT and the CCP, «all we ever wanted is to guide the Chinese nation out of decline and toward rejuvenation.» Cheng went on to say, «The great Chinese rejuvenation involves people on both sides of the strait. It is about the reawakening and resurgence of Chinese civilization.»
That’s not how many here in Taiwan see things. Rose Chou, 45, works as an administrator in one of the biggest primary schools in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan’s largest city and a major port. Chou told Fox News Digital it was time for Taiwan to dump any connection to being China or a part of China. «Yes, I want a Republic of Taiwan. I have an 18-year-old son. And yes, I realize we may have to fight. I’m willing to fight.»
US LAWMAKERS WARN TAIWAN TO ‘MEET THE MOMENT’ AS CHINA STAGES INVASION-STYLE DRILLS
A screen grab captured from a video shows the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command launching large-scale joint military exercises around Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in China on May 24, 2024. Led by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), «integrated operations inside and outside the island chain are being conducted to test the command’s capabilities to jointly take battlefield control and launch joint strikes, and to seize control of crucial areas,» Li Xi, the spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said. (Photo by Feng Hao / PLA / China Military/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Feng Hao/PLA/China Military/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Chou readily admitted that most people she knows favor maintaining the status quo. A very small number, she said, are committed to the idea of unification – but under what terms they hope that could occur, Chou said she didn’t know.
Under the status quo that dates from the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, Taiwan’s official name remains the Republic of China, to nominally indicate that Taiwan is a part of China, just not «Red China.» This formula previously satisfied the communist regime in Beijing, but – especially since Xi Jinping’s rise – Beijing has pushed Taiwan towards outright submission.
A meeting between the head of the KMT and the CPP hasn’t happened in almost a decade, but there is precedent. A KMT chair met Xi in 2015, and again in 2016, and separately, in 2015, then-Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou met Xi in Singapore, during which each addressed the other as «Mister,» and titles used were «Leader of Taiwan» and «Leader of Mainland China,» respectively.
In a statement after the meeting, a spokesperson for the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei, said, «The United States supports cross-Strait dialogue. We expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait. Meaningful cross-Strait exchange should focus on dialogue between Beijing’s leadership and Taiwan’s democratically elected authorities without preconditions, while also including engagement with all other political parties in Taiwan.»
A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is seen during a military display in the South China Sea April 12, 2018. (Reuters/Stringer)
Elizabeth Freund Larus, a Taiwan Fellowship Scholar in Taipei told Fox News Digital the KMT’s traditional China approach no longer connects with much of Taiwan’s electorate. «KMT Chair Cheng’s trip is trying to replicate Ma Ying-jeou’s approach to cross-Strait relations,» Larus said. «But that approach is 30-years old and no longer appeals to the Taiwanese. As a result, many people in Taiwan are critical of her China trip.»
Larus said Beijing is also likely to use the visit for domestic propaganda, presenting it as proof that Taiwan embraces cultural and social affinities with mainland China while casting the government in Taipei as an outlier. «Cheng may be welcomed in Beijing,» Larus said, «but her party may receive a less enthusiastic reception» in local elections later this year and in the next presidential and legislative elections in 2028.
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Taipei-based political risk analyst and Tamkang University assistant professor Ross Feingold told Fox News Digital, «President Lai’s DPP has a savvy media team, which for many years has successfully shaped public opinion towards China. Following today’s meeting, Cheng and the KMT will be portrayed as traitors willing to sell out Taiwan.»
He concluded by noting, «Ultimately, though, the success or failure of Cheng’s visit to China and meeting with Xi will be determined by Taiwan’s voters, despite efforts from China and the United States to influence events. For the Trump administration, though, its near-term priority in Taiwan remains legislative approval to purchase billions of dollars of American weapons and speedy implementation of Taiwan’s commitment to invest $250 billion in the United States.»
china, taiwan, other parties, xi jinping, foreign affairs
INTERNACIONAL
El Vaticano tuvo que salir a desmentir un encuentro de alto voltaje entre el Pentágono y un enviado de León XIV
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Just hours before the ceasefire deal went into effect on Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran’s clerical regime to pause fighting for two weeks, the regime urged young children and adults to surround Iranian energy facilities as human shields in reaction to President Trump’s threat to wipe out its energy infrastructure.
The thinking behind Iran’s regime’s willingness to use children and civilians as cannon fodder, according to observers, is that an American airstrike that kills children or civilians will dramatically sway U.S. public opinion against the war and create a rally-round-the-regime effect in Tehran.
And now with high-level peace talks due to start between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan, Tehran can be seen as the godfather of propaganda when it comes to manipulating much of the world’s media — even more skilled than its terror apprentice forces in Gaza and Lebanon. Yemen and beyond.
INSIDE TEHRAN AFTER STRIKES: IRANIAN WOMAN DESCRIBES FEAR, CHECKPOINTS AND PEOPLE USED AS ‘HUMAN SHIELDS’
A billboard showing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, looms over an empty square in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)
«Godfather of propaganda»
Lisa Daftari, an Iran expert, told Fox News Digital that the theocratic state’s exploitation of civilians for their war aim is part and parcel of their nearly half-century playbook against the West. «The Islamic Republic is the Godfather of propaganda. It has spent 47 years perfecting the art of saying one thing at the negotiating table and doing another in the field. The Trump administration should walk into these talks with maximum skepticism. This regime has never kept its word on its weapons, and there’s no reason to believe this time is different.»
She pointed to Tehran’s «record of positioning civilian infrastructure — hospitals, mosques, schools and now power plants — as military shields. They did it in Lebanon through Hezbollah. They did it in Gaza through Hamas. And they are doing it now on their own soil, with their own people, under coercion. Iranians who refuse to participate face consequences.»
Daftari, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the Foreign Desk, added that, «Iran’s regime has never hesitated to use its own people as a shield. The difference now is they’re doing it in front of cameras, in real time, knowing exactly which images will make prime-time news around the world. This is propaganda. And the two-week ceasefire just gave them more time to manipulate the West and continue on in their narrative warfare.»
Members of security forces watch over the crowd during a funeral procession held for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri, alongside other senior naval commanders and their families who were killed in US-Israeli strikes in late March, on April 1, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
Capitalizing on a tragedy
Right at the beginning of «Operation Epic Fury», the world’s media was full of accounts from Iran of an air strike that reportedly hit an Iranian school for girls in the town of Minab Feb. 28. The air strike reportedly killed 175 people, most of whom were children, at the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, according to the regime. The school was located on the same street as buildings used by the IRGC. A Pentagon investigation was launched in March to look into the allegations that a U.S. missile struck the school.
Speaking to Fox News Digital last month, Iranian-American journalist Banafsheh Zand, who has been following the reporting, pointed to the fact that the school that has been there for more than a decade and its reported affiliation with Iran’s military. She said that while the regime claims between 168 fatalities and 180 fatalities, mostly girls between the ages of 7 and 12, along with teachers and parents from the school, there has been no independent confirmation of the reported casualty figures.
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«There is no confirmation on the number of people, from anyone other than regime sources,» she said. «Some people in the area said it was 65 boys. Sixty-five boys? What are 65 boys doing in a girls’ school at 10:30 on a Saturday morning?»
Both Democratic and Republican U.S. administrations have classified Iran’s regime as a leading state-sponsor of terrorism.
Iranian worshippers hold up their hands as signs of unity with Iran’s former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Fooling the media
Speaking on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ on Thursday, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said the American media was «essentially… carrying water for Iran.»
Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at JINSA, told Fox News Digital, «The regime wants to show the Iranian people that it is not weakened despite all the deaths in its leadership and losses in its arsenals, and to claim legitimacy by showing it is winning against the eternal American and Israeli enemies.»
He said, «Like Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran uses civilians as human shields for propaganda purposes. It cares nothing for the safety and fate of its own people. It wants to portray the country as undaunted and willing to sacrifice for victory. And if civilians are killed, all the better for the regime’s political goals… Iran wants to undermine U.S. domestic support for the war by framing it as America doing Israel’s bidding, and by using AI-generated disinformation to depict massive destruction and casualties at U.S. bases in the Middle East.»
The regime suffered a crisis of legitimacy after millions of Iranians poured into the streets in January and demanded the dissolution of the Islamic Republic.
Both the IRGC and Basij — the regime’s street fighting paramilitary troops — played a key role in the mass murder of 45,000 Iranian civilians in January, who protested the regime. President Trump said in his address to the nation that the regime killed 45,000 people. The previous death toll was estimated to be over 35,000 people.
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran on January 9, 2026. (MAHSA / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)
Ruhe said, «As it did before the war, it also wants to delegitimize protesters and other internal opposition by depicting them as American and Israeli agents. It can be expected to ramp up all of these propaganda efforts during the ceasefire. The United States and our partners will be part of this intended audience, too.»
Using children in war
Adding to its deadly propaganda mix, the regime freely uses child soldiers to achieve its goals. According to Amnesty International, «Eyewitness accounts and verified audiovisual evidence show child soldiers having been deployed at IRGC checkpoints and patrols, armed with weapons, including AK47pattern rifles.»
Erika Guevara-Rosas, senior director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, for Amnesty stated in the report that, «The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military. Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime.»
Iranian schoolboys wear Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military uniforms and shout anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans during a ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 1, 2026 (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Jennifer Dyer, a retired commander of U.S. Naval Intelligence, told Fox News «I’d say the remnant of the regime can’t muster enough human shields to be doing it all over the place. The people are too resistant. Protests continued in the country the last couple of days, and some reporting on social media indicated a crackdown by the Basij on protesters after the so-called ceasefire was announced.»
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In late March, a deputy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, declared that the state launched a recruitment campaign called the «Homeland-Defending Combatants for Iran» that is «open to volunteers» aged 12 and older. The drive to recruit child soldiers took place in mosques and bases of the paramilitary organization Basij. The recruitment campaign sought adolescents to join «combatants defending the homeland.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Iran’s U.N. Mission in New York for a comment.
war with iran, iran, mass murder, military
INTERNACIONAL
FLASHBACK: Dems want to boot Trump with 25th amendment, but refused to do so under Biden
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Congressional Democrats want President Donald Trump ousted through extraordinary measures, despite previously dismissing similar calls targeting former President Joe Biden.
More than 50 Democratic lawmakers have called on Trump’s Cabinet to effectively depose him using the 25th Amendment, arguing that the president is unfit to serve over his comments and actions regarding Iran. Their demands were sparked by his social media declaration that a «whole civilization will die» unless the Iranian government agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
«I certainly think the president should be removed,» Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said. «I mean, he’s unfit for office. I think the 25th Amendment, and if not, then impeachment.»
But less than two years ago, Republicans made the same argument against Biden that Democrats ignored.
SENATE DEM ACCUSES TRUMP OF BEING ‘UNFIT FOR OFFICE,’ JOINS GROWING CALL TO IMPEACH, OUST PRESIDENT
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., at the time wrote a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for him, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, to invoke the 25th Amendment.
«If President Biden is unwilling to resign, for the sake of our great nation, you must do your duty to relieve him of his constitutional powers and duties,» Schmitt wrote.
Congressional Democrats want President Donald Trump ousted through extraordinary measures, despite previously dismissing similar calls targeting former President Joe Biden. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)
Now, only a small group of Senate Democrats have made the case for Trump’s ouster, while most of the enthusiasm has come from the House.
Democrats’ calls to remove Trump through impeachment and conviction or the 25th Amendment cannot happen without widespread GOP support. House Democratic leadership, however, continues to provide a platform for those discussions.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., will hold a caucus-wide briefing on the workings of the 25th Amendment Friday afternoon.
EX-TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE JOINS LEFT-WING CALLS FOR THE 25TH AMENDMENT AS IRAN DEADLINE NEARS
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not call for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against Biden. Pelosi did, however, renew her call to see Trump ousted through that process in recent days. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In the summer of 2024, Republicans demanded that Biden be removed from office after a disastrous debate performance against Trump and following a report from former Special Counsel Robert Hur that called into question the then-president’s cognitive ability and handling of classified documents.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at the time, «There’s a lot of people asking about the 25th Amendment, invoking the 25th Amendment right now, because this is an alarming situation.»
GOP INFIGHTING REPLACES CLASH WITH DEMS, DERAILS PATH TO END HISTORIC DHS SHUTDOWN
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at the time, «There’s a lot of people asking about the 25th Amendment, invoking the 25th Amendment right now, because this is an alarming situation.» (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)
«Our adversaries see the weakness in this White House, as we all do,» Johnson added. «I take no pleasure in saying that. I think this is a very dangerous situation.»
Democrats quickly closed ranks and disputed accusations that Biden’s mental acuity was rapidly declining. Some, however, did call for Biden to drop out of the race against Trump over fears he would not be able to beat his political foe in a rematch after stumbling during their only debate.
Top congressional Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reportedly urged Biden privately to step aside, and dozens of Democrats publicly called on him to exit the race while there was still time to find a replacement.
Neither, however, called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against Biden. Pelosi did, however, renew her call to see Trump ousted through that process in recent days.
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«Donald Trump’s instability is more clear and dangerous than ever,» Pelosi said on X. «If the Cabinet is not willing to invoke the 25th Amendment and restore sanity, Republicans must reconvene the Congress to end this war.»
Schumer has so far stopped short of calling for Trump’s removal from power.
Trump, when pressed on next moves in Iran, joked in April during a Cabinet meeting that if he revealed what comes next, his own Cabinet would oust him.
«I can’t say what we’re going to do because if I did, I wouldn’t be sitting here for long. They’d probably — what is it called? The 25th Amendment — They’d institute the 25th Amendment,» Trump said. «Which they didn’t do with Biden, which is shocking.»
politics, donald trump, joe biden, democrats, trump impeachment inquiry, democrats senate
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