As Xi met with an opposition leader in Beijing, Taiwan noticed Chinese jets.

Taiwan’s defence ministry reported on Saturday that it had observed sixteen Chinese warplanes flying close to the island the day before, at the same time that China’s president was meeting with the leader of Taiwan’s opposition.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party, late on Friday morning in Beijing, Xi said that he “absolutely would not tolerate” Taiwan’s independence since China considers Taiwan to be its own territory.

Cheng told Xi that she anticipated the KMT and Communist Party pursuing the “institutionalisation” of peace across the Taiwan Strait and presented her visit as a reconciliation mission to reduce tensions.

According to Taiwan’s defence ministry’s daily report on Chinese military action over the past 24 hours, 16 Chinese warplanes passed close to the island on Friday between midmorning and midafternoon. At 11 a.m. (0300GMT), Xi and Cheng got together.

Shen Yu-chung, a deputy minister at Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which sets China policy, told reporters in Taipei on Saturday that China’s “go-to tactic” has always been to use military force against Taiwan in order to exert pressure for political talks.Thus, as they continue to utilise military might to put pressure on Taiwan without ceasing, we see them putting out words of peace on the one hand,” he continued.

A request for response was not answered by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

KMT Vice Chairman Chang Jung-kung stated in Beijing that giving Taiwanese people a choice between peace and reconciliation or conflict is the key to fostering peace.

According to a KMT statement, Chang emphasised that engaging with China and advancing cross-strait peace results in “peace with dignity,” not the bowing of one’s head to “shake hands” as Taiwan President Lai Ching-te ⁠has claimed.

According to Lai’s office on Friday night, the Xi-Cheng meeting aimed to promote “the annexation of Taiwan” and emphasise that “Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China.”Only the Taiwanese people themselves can determine Taiwan’s future, according to a statement from Lai’s spokesman, Karen Kuo.