Taiwan’s KMT chooses Cheng Li-wun as leader in a vote that could reshape its China line

# Taiwan’s KMT chooses Cheng Li-wun as leader in a vote that could reshape its China line

The Taiwanese opposition Kuomintang has elected former lawmaker Cheng Li-wun as party chairwoman, handing leadership to a figure who has argued for lower defence spending and a more conciliatory approach toward China.

Cheng won the contest on the event date of 2025-10-19 and is due to take over the party leadership on November 1, according to the supplied evidence. Her victory gives the KMT a chair who has already signalled that she wants the party to present itself as a defender of regional peace rather than a force for confrontation across the Taiwan Strait.

The result matters well beyond a routine internal party contest. The KMT is Taiwan’s main opposition party, and while it does not hold the presidency, the party and its ally, the Taiwan People’s Party, together have enough seats to create a majority bloc in the legislature. That means the choice of chair can affect how hard it is for President William Lai Ching-te’s government to push through budgets and legislation.

In her remarks after the vote, Cheng cast the party’s mission in explicitly peace-focused terms. She said the KMT would be a “creator of regional peace” and described the party as a shelter against “life’s storms.” She also warned that Taiwan must not become a “troublemaker” or a sacrifice of geopolitics. Those lines point to a chairwoman likely to press the KMT further toward its historically warmer ties with Beijing.

The campaign also exposed the party’s internal fault lines. Cheng had rejected the idea of increasing Taiwan’s defence budget, a position that cuts against a core policy of Lai’s administration and one that also has strong support in Washington. Her election therefore sets up another round of argument over Taiwan’s military preparedness, the cost of deterrence, and how the island should respond to China’s military pressure.

Her opponent in the contest, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin, was the establishment favorite. Cheng beat him and four other candidates, securing more than 50 percent of the vote, though turnout among party members was below 40 percent. That combination of a clear margin and weak participation suggests the outcome was decisive, but not necessarily a sign of broad enthusiasm across the entire KMT base.

The campaign was not only about policy. It was also shadowed by allegations of Chinese interference. Jaw Shau-kong, a key supporter of Hau’s and the KMT’s vice presidential candidate last year, said social media accounts had spread disinformation about Hau. Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said it had found more than 1,000 TikTok videos discussing the election and 23 YouTube accounts posting related content, with more than half of the YouTube accounts based outside Taiwan. The bureau did not say which candidates the content supported, and it did not directly answer whether the material originated in China.

Cheng dismissed the accusations as “very cheap labels,” while Beijing said the election was a KMT matter and that online comments from mainland users did not represent an official stance. Those reactions underline the sensitivity of any Taiwan election in which China is even indirectly implicated.

For the KMT, Cheng’s win raises a familiar strategic question: can the party lean into peace messaging and criticism of higher defence spending without appearing soft on Beijing? The answer will shape not just the party’s image, but the tone of Taiwan’s domestic politics at a time of heightened military and political tension with China.