China will "absolutely not tolerate" independence for Taiwan, which is the chief culprit in undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the island's opposition leader on Friday, calling for efforts to advance "reunification".
Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), is in China on what she has called a peace mission to reduce tensions at a time when Beijing has stepped up military pressure against the island it claims as its territory.
Meeting in the Great Hall of the People, Xi told Cheng that today's world was not entirely at peace, and peace was precious.
"Compatriots on both sides of the strait are all Chinese - people of one family who want peace, development, exchange, and cooperation," he said, in comments carried by Taiwan television stations.
Both sides of the strait belong to "one China", Xi added, according to a separate state media readout.
"When the family is harmonious, all things will prosper," he said. "Taiwan independence is the chief culprit in undermining peace in the Taiwan Strait - we will absolutely not tolerate or condone it."
Xi also mentioned the thorny subject of union between China and Taiwan, which has long been Beijing's goal but which Taiwan's government rejects.
The KMT and Communist Party must "join hands to create a bright future of the motherland's reunification and national rejuvenation," he said.
China refuses to talk to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, saying he is a "separatist".
Speaking to reporters in Taipei late on Friday, Taiwan's top China policymaker, Chiu Chui-cheng, said only Taiwan's people could decide their future and China should engage with Taipei's democratically elected and legitimate government.
"The Chinese communists are deliberately creating the false impression that Taiwan is an internal affair of China," he added.
The then-KMT-led Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, who founded the People's Republic of China. To this day, neither government formally recognises the other.
The modern KMT favours closer diplomatic and economic ties with Beijing than the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Cheng told Xi that mutually beneficial cross-strait relations were what the public on both sides longed for, and that interactions and exchanges should be reciprocal.
"I, Li-wun, sincerely hope that one day in the future, I will have the opportunity to be the host and welcome General Secretary Xi and all of you here present in Taiwan," she added, using Xi's title as head of the Communist Party.
Cheng said she hoped that through the efforts of both parties, the Taiwan Strait would no longer be a focal point of potential conflict, and would certainly not become a "chessboard for outside forces to intervene in".
Speaking later to reporters in Beijing, Cheng said Xi had told her that China respected Taiwan's different social system and choice of lifestyle.
"But he also hopes that Taiwan will be able to affirm and acknowledge the development achievements of the mainland," she said.
Taiwan sees only warships and warplanes as China talks peace with opposition
Taiwanese officials are tracking what they view as a worrying rise in Chinese naval activity and military pressure against the island, even as Beijing presses a message of peace and cooperation in meetings with Taiwan's opposition leader.
China's tactics are all the more unnerving for the Taipei government given the opposition continues to stymie a defense spending rise that Washington has pushed for. The buildup also comes at a time when the US is focused on the conflict in the Middle East and US President Donald Trump is readying for a May meeting with China's Xi Jinping.
"China is continuously and persistently expanding its military capabilities, and the military threat it poses to us is becoming increasingly severe," Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo told lawmakers on Thursday amid anger among the ruling party over the decision by members of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) to skip talks on stalled defense spending.
Taiwan has to show its determination to defend itself to the US and other like-minded partners, he added.
"But the most frightening scenario is - if all of our international allies were to question whether we have such resolve, what would we face? I cannot imagine it."
China views Taiwan as one of its provinces and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only the island's people can decide their future.
Two Taiwanese security officials told Reuters that China has deployed nearly 100 naval and coast guard vessels in and around the South and East China Seas this week. One official said China usually deploys around 50-60 ships in the region, so the increase in the past weeks was "very rare," especially because this time of year is not usually busy for Chinese naval drills.
A second highlighted the timing of the increased presence, coming with Washington focused on Iran, and as Taiwan's opposition leader visits China.
China's defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The number of vessels was corroborated by separate intelligence reports reviewed by Reuters, which showed a notable increase in Chinese vessels over the last few weeks, from nearly 70 at the end of March to nearly 100 this week.
Two other, non-Taiwanese, security sources, confirmed the numbers, though said they viewed it as more of a "new normal" from China rather than an alarming anomaly.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the numbers of the Chinese ships around the same time last year.
China's daily military activities around the island have been maintained during Cheng's China visit.
On Friday, Taiwan's defense ministry reported seven Chinese military aircraft operating around the island in the previous 24 hours, as well as seven warships.
Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council which runs the coast guard, this week took the unusual step of posting on her Facebook account the locations and names of the Chinese warships in waters around the island.
"Because the leader of the main opposition party is planning to meet with Chinese leadership ... it is necessary to appropriately disclose to the public and the international community the situation of China's harassment in our waters, so that our people are informed and understand the serious implications," she wrote.
Added to the naval activity, China has also declared "reserved" airspace off its eastern coast, running from March 27 to May 5 - which is around a week before Trump is due to visit China.
China has provided no explanation for that, but it has previously issued such notifications defining a block of airspace as off-limits to civilian or foreign aircraft ahead of military drills.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Wednesday, Tsai Ming-yen, head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau, said he believed China was using this to test how often US aircraft operate in the area.
"This may also be politically intended to demonstrate the state of US air activity in the Indo-Pacific region prior to the Trump-Xi meeting," he added.