On May 4, 2015, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping and Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu met in Beijing.
After Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012, the KMT repeatedly proposed a potential meeting between Xi and Ma Ying-jeou, who served as Chairman of the Kuomintang from 2009 to 2014. [1] Nothing came of the plans until 2015, when Chu was elected KMT chair.
In January 2015, Eric Chu became the Chairman of the KMT. On March 11, 2015, Yang Wei-chung , the former KMT spokesman, was consulted about the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade, and Culture Forum, but details of the discussion were not publicly disclosed. [2]
On April 12, 2015, Eric Chu confirmed that he would be attending the 10th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade, and Culture Forum, which was to be held in Shanghai on May 2–3, 2015, but the Xi-Chu meeting was not yet confirmed. [3]
On April 24, 2015, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said that Chu and Xi would meet. [4]
On May 2, 2015, Eric Chu arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and shook hands with the head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, Zhang Zhijun. [5] That same day, Chu attended a Cross-Strait Economic, Trade, and Culture Forum held in Shanghai. He shook hands with Yu Zhengsheng, the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. At this forum, Chu mentioned the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a regional development bank led by the Chinese Government. Also, Chu visited Fudan University and delivered a speech. [6] [7]
On May 4, 2015, Chu arrived in Beijing and met with Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the CCP. Xi said that Mainland China and Taiwan should settle political differences through consultation of the "One China" policy. [8] Chu also said that the 1992 Consensus could be expanded to the international realm. [9]
After meeting Xi, Chu delivered a speech at Peking University. [10]
On May 4, 2015, the Associated Press reported on the Xi-Chu meeting. The report quoted Eric Chu as saying that his party supports "eventual unification". But the chair of the KMT's Culture and Communications Committee, Yang Wei-chung, said that the report was mistaken. After the KMT filed a complaint, the AP rescinded the report. [11]
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially based on the Chinese mainland and then in Taiwan since 1949. The KMT is a centre-right to right-wing party and the largest in the Pan-Blue Coalition. Its primary rival is the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its allies in the Pan-Green Coalition. As of 2024, the KMT is the largest single party in the Legislative Yuan. The current chairman is Eric Chu.
Lien Chan is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government from 1990 to 1993, Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the Chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 2000 to 2005, apart from various ministerial posts he had also held. Lien ran for the President of the Republic of China on behalf of the Kuomintang twice in 2000 and 2004, but both lost to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party. Upon his retirement as KMT Chairman in August 2005, he was given the title Honorary Chairman of KMT. He is highly credited after holding a groundbreaking visit to Mainland China in his capacity as the Chairman of the Kuomintang to meet with the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao on 29 April 2005, the first meeting between the two party leaders after the end of Chinese Civil War in 1949, which subsequently helped thaw the long-stalled cross-strait relations.
Vincent C. Siew or Siew Wan-chang is a Taiwanese politician who served as the Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2008 to 2012. He was the first Taiwanese-born Premier of the Republic of China and former vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT).
The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semiofficial representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China and the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. They are often credited as creating a diplomatic basis for semi-official cross-strait exchanges which began in the early 1990s and is a precondition set by the PRC for engaging in cross-strait dialogue.
Cross-strait relations are the political and economic relations between Mainland China and Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait.
Hau Lung-pin is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the New Party, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995, and resigned his seat to lead the Environmental Protection Administration in 2001. Hau stepped down from the EPA in 2003 and served as Mayor of Taipei from 2006 to 2014. He joined the Kuomintang (KMT) in 2006 and has served as vice chairman of the party in 2014 and from 2016 to 2020.
Wu Po-hsiung is a Taiwanese politician who was the chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT). He has been the Interior Minister (1984–1988), Mayor of Taipei (1988–1990), Secretary-General to the President (1991–1996), and Chairman of the KMT (2007–2009). Wu was nominated as Honorary Chairman of the Kuomintang when he was succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou as the Chairman of the Kuomintang.
Wu Den-yih is a Taiwanese politician. He graduated from National Taiwan University and worked as a journalist before beginning a career in politics with a 1973 appointment to the Taipei City Council. Wu was then elected Magistrate of Nantou County, serving from 1981 to 1989. Following two terms as magistrate, he was named Mayor of Kaohsiung in 1990. Wu remained mayor until 1998, having won the office in a 1994 direct election. He then served two full terms in the Legislative Yuan from 2002 to 2008. Shortly after winning a third term in the legislature, Wu was named Premier of the Republic of China in 2009. He served until 2012, when he and Ma Ying-jeou formed the Kuomintang (KMT) presidential ticket. Wu served one four-year term as Vice President of the Republic of China, stepping down in 2016. In May 2017, he was elected party chairman. Wu stepped down from the position in January 2020. Previously, Wu had served the KMT as secretary-general from 2007 to 2009, first vice chairman in 2014, and as acting chairman in 2014 and 2015.
Eric Li-luan Chu is a Taiwanese politician who is currently the chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT).
Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, commonly known as the Kuomintang–Chinese Communist Party Forum, was originally proposed by the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, jointly organized in order to promote cross-strait economic, trade, cultural exchanges dialogue and integration.
Hung Hsiu-chu is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), she has served the party as a Deputy Chairperson and Deputy Secretary-General. Hung was first elected to the legislature in 1990, and was the Vice President of the Legislative Yuan from 2012 to 2016, her eighth term. She became the first female deputy speaker of the Legislative Yuan. She became the Kuomintang's first elected chairwoman later that year, serving until June 2017.
Lin Fong-cheng is a Taiwanese politician. He was the vice chairman of the Kuomintang from April 2007 to April 2014.
The Straits Forum is an annual forum between Mainland China and Taiwan which started in 2009. It is the largest non-political platform which promotes grassroots interaction, economic and trade exchanges and cultural integration.
The 2015 Kuomintang chairmanship by-election was held on 17 January 2015 in Taiwan. This was the sixth direct election of the chairman in the Kuomintang history. All registered, due-paying KMT party members were eligible to vote.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in China.
On 7 November 2015, Ma Ying-jeou, President of the Republic of China, and Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and President of the People's Republic of China, met in Singapore. The meeting was the first between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and the first since the meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in Chongqing during the Double Tenth Agreement in August 1945.
Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 16 January 2016. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen with her independent running mate Chen Chien-jen won over Eric Chu of the Kuomintang (KMT) and James Soong of the People First Party (PFP). Tsai became the first female president in Taiwan, as well as in the Chinese-speaking world.
Tan Pingshan was a Chinese revolutionary socialist and an early member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from Gaoming, Guangdong. He was influential in the Tongmenghui and formed the Guangdong branch of the CCP with the help of Chen Duxiu. He later took part in the formation of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.
The 2021 Kuomintang chairmanship election was scheduled to be held in July 2021. It was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually rescheduled for 25 September 2021. It was the tenth direct election of the party leader in Kuomintang (KMT) history. All registered, due-paying KMT party members were eligible to vote.