Eric Chu is the chairman of the Nationalist Party, a historic adversary of China’s Communist Party that is now united by a desire to boost economic cooperation. That has stirred opposition in self-ruled Taiwan.
The Christian Science Monitor
Date: May 4, 2015
By: Ralph Jennings, Correspondent
Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s beleaguered ruling party is trying to steady its
Eric Chu, center, chairman of Taiwan’s ruling party Kuomintang waves as he leaves Fudan University in Shanghai, China, Saturday, May 2, 2015. Chu is leading a delegation to the cross-strait economic, trade and culture forum and will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 4. Chinatopix/AP
reputation at home and renew dialog with rival China, which is also eager to charm the Taiwanese after a year of setbacks.
Eric Chu, chairman of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party and a potential presidential candidate, is meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in his role as general secretary of China’s Communist party. Monday’s meeting in Beijing, at China’s invitation, will discuss “people’s welfare” and the future of two-way relations, the Nationalists said in a statement.
The meeting in Beijing gives Mr. Chu’s party a major chance to show skeptical Taiwanese that its seven years of engagement with Beijing can still help Taiwan’s economy following anti-China protests last year. For China, which has long claimed sovereignty over Taiwan, the meeting gives it a way to impress anti-Beijing youth and blue-collar workers in Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
