Cheng Li-wen

A Hunger Strike at the NTU Gate in 1988

In the winter of 1988, a 19-year-old female university student was on a hunger strike at the gate of National Taiwan University.

Her name was Cheng Li-wen. Her father, from Yunlin, was a veteran who had migrated from Yunnan to Taiwan, and her mother was a local from Yunlin. ¹ Born in Jingzhong Village No. 3 in Tainan, she grew up in a family mixing second-generation mainlanders and locals. In her freshman year, she joined the newly legalized Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), calling herself a "fundamentalist" supporter of Taiwan independence. ²

Her hunger strike was for a man named Huang Hua. Huang Hua was prosecuted by the government for "treason" due to his advocacy of Taiwan independence. Cheng Li-wen set up a point at the NTU gate, refusing food to demand the authorities release Huang Hua. At that time, she believed she was doing something pure: resisting authoritarianism and striving for independence.

She later recalled in an interview: She waited for a few days, but the ones who came to persuade her to withdraw were not KMT agents, but members of the DPP. People from the DPP told her: "Huang Hua is a troublesome figure; don't get involved with him. Your hunger strike is making our party look awkward." ³

This was the first time she realized that the "Taiwan independence" in her mind and the "Taiwan independence" the DPP was actually practicing might not be the same thing at all. Thirty-seven years later, on April 10, 2026, she walked into the Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and told Xi Jinping: "Compatriots across the strait are all Chinese."

What happened between that female student on a hunger strike and this KMT Chairperson speaking in Beijing?

30-Second Overview: Cheng Li-wen, born in 1969 into a Veterans' Administration family in Tainan, joined the DPP in 1988 and went on a hunger strike at the NTU gate for the Huang Hua Taiwan independence case. She was elected as a National Convention Representative in 1996. She left the DPP in 2002 due to the Wu Rui-ren incident and was invited to join the KMT by Lien Chan in 2005. Serving as a Legislative Yuan member and spokesperson for the Executive Yuan three times starting in 2008, she hosted the political talk show Li-wen's Straight Talk on TVBS from 2014 to 2015. Elected KMT Chairperson in October 2025, she became the second female directly elected party leader in the party's history; her election slogan was "I am Chinese." After taking office, she faced controversy over the White Terror Autumn Memorial mourning of espionage cases. On April 10, 2026, she represented the KMT in meeting Xi Jinping in Beijing, becoming the first leader of a major political party in the Republic of China to meet with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in ten years.

How a Top Student Learned International Politics

Cheng Li-wen is not just a student activist with a hunger strike story.

In 1993, she obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Beasley Law School at Temple University in the United States, majoring in International Law. ⁴ Then, in 2000, she obtained a Master of Science (MSc) in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, while still a doctoral candidate in the field. ⁵ These two degrees played a subtle role throughout her subsequent career—when she later discussed terms like "KMT-CCP platform," "peace framework," and "institutional arrangements for preventing war," she was someone who knew what these terms meant in international political textbooks.

From 1996 to 2000, Cheng Li-wen served as a National Convention Representative for Taipei City on behalf of the DPP. Simultaneously, she served as Deputy Director of the Youth Development Department at the DPP Central and as Deputy Convener of the National Convention Party Group. This was a typical trajectory for the first generation of student movement activists entering the system after the lifting of martial law.

In 2002, a sexual harassment case involving Wu Rui-ren occurred within the DPP. Dissatisfied with the party central's handling of the matter, Cheng Li-wen had her party rights suspended and subsequently resigned from her DPP positions. ⁶ This was the formal point at which she left the green camp, but her later explanation was more direct: "I realized that Taiwan independence had long become a joke, a scam." ⁷

In 2005, she officially joined the KMT at the invitation of Lien Chan. A woman in her thirties, with a Master of Laws degree, trained in Cambridge International Relations, and who had once gone on a hunger strike for Taiwan independence—such a resume was an exception in the KMT of 2005. Lien Chan wanted that very exception.

The Warrior, Controversies, and a TV Show

After joining the KMT, Cheng Li-wen first served as a spokesperson, then as a spokesperson for the Executive Yuan, and entered the Legislative Yuan as a non-constituency legislator in 2008.

Within the party, she earned the title "Warrior" (Zhan Jiang). The reason was that her statements were sharp, she was skilled at appearing on political talk shows, and she did not shy away from the camera. During the Ma Ying-jeou era, the blue camp entered an atmosphere of "being pressed and beaten"; Cheng Li-wen was one of the few who could confront them head-on. CNA described her upon her election as Chairperson: "Breaking through with the image of a warrior." ⁸

But being a "Warrior" came with a cost. In 2005, while serving as Chairman of the KMT's Information and Communications Committee, she named and criticized DPP Taichung Mayor candidate Lin Chia-lung as a "corrupt mob" in an election advertisement. Lin sued her under the Election and Recall Act; the first instance sentenced her to three months in prison with a one-year deprivation of public rights, later reduced to one month of criminal detention with a suspended sentence. ⁹ Another controversy involved her violating KMT regulations on party positions by hosting a radio show where her weekly hours exceeded the four-hour limit. These two controversies were not fatal, but they left a common label on her political career: "Very capable, but often crossing the line."

From 2014 to 2015, she hosted the TVBS political talk show Li-wen's Straight Talk. ¹⁰ This show solidified her "political talk style": direct, sharp, hitting the nail on the head, often using a single sentence to corner her opponents. This style was directly related to her path to becoming KMT Chairperson—she did not rely on organization or local factions, but on "being able to speak."

On October 18, 2025, the results of the 12th KMT Chairperson election were announced. Cheng Li-wen defeated former Taipei Mayor Hao Lung-bin and current legislator Luo Zhi-qiang with approximately 50% of the vote, becoming the second female directly elected party leader in KMT history, the first being Hsiu-chu Hung. ¹¹

The key slogan of the election campaign was only six characters: "I am Chinese."

From "Hunger Strike for Taiwan Independence" to "I am Chinese"

This is the most difficult part of Cheng Li-wen's persona to understand.

Her version is this: When young, she believed Taiwan independence was a just path, but after entering the system, she discovered that the DPP's definition of "Taiwan independence" was fundamentally self-contradictory—claiming to seek independence while never truly pushing for it within the system. She called this gap "Taiwan independence is a scam," ¹² and even more intensely, "Taiwan independence fascism." ¹³ She believed her political stance had not changed; what changed was her judgment of "who is telling the truth."

The opposing version is this: Cheng Li-wen, once an idealistic student activist, was systematically "transformed" by the old KMT system, led by Lien Chan, into a fighter friendly to Beijing. Each of her "anti-Taiwan independence" declarations was a step to climb to the next position. The fact that she could sit in the Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2026 to talk with Xi Jinping is the ultimate result of this transformation route.

Both versions have evidence, and both have blind spots.

The blind spot of the first version is: If the judgment that "Taiwan independence is a scam" comes from real experience, then why did this judgment happen to lead to "joining the other party that just happens to welcome this judgment"? A purely epistemological shift would not coincide so perfectly with a career path.

The blind spot of the second version is: After entering the KMT, Cheng Li-wen was indeed long part of a more radical faction within the blue camp, even viewed by old blues as "disobedient." Her route was not a copy of the standard KMT route, but an independent sub-route. Saying she is "any substitute the KMT sends" is inaccurate—she indeed has her own political judgment.

The truth likely lies between the two: A person with academic training, who can debate and wants influence, found no place for herself in the green camp in Taiwan's political field in the 2000s, so she moved to the blue camp—and the blue camp just happened to need someone "who could speak, had academic credentials, and had a student movement background" to change its image. The two sides clicked. This was not betrayal, nor a pure shift in belief, but a political worker choosing a path that was most beneficial to herself while still being able to justify it.

But the cost of this choice was: She had to move continuously toward Beijing for this choice to lose its internal logic. From "Taiwan independence is a scam" to "I am Chinese" to "Compatriots across the strait are all Chinese"—she could not stop in the middle.

The White Terror Autumn Memorial and the Photo of Wu Shi

If there is one event that concretizes the dynamics above, it is the White Terror Autumn Memorial in November 2025.

Less than three weeks after becoming KMT Chairperson, Cheng Li-wen attended the "1950s White Terror Autumn Memorial Mourning Ceremony" hosted by the "Mutual Aid Association for Political Victims in Taiwan." On the list of mourners was a name: Wu Shi. ¹⁴

Who is Wu Shi? He was the former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense, executed at the Machangding shooting range in Taipei in 1950. His charge was: Communist Spy. He was indeed a high-level intelligence agent for the CCP潜伏 (hidden) in Taiwan, codenamed "Secret Agent No. 1," providing intelligence to the CCP around the time of the KMT's retreat to Taiwan in 1949. Historically, he is recognized as a CCP spy—even the CCP itself later publicly acknowledged him and listed him as a "Revolutionary Martyr."

The autumn memorial Cheng Li-wen attended placed Wu Shi on the same mourning list as other "White Terror victims," and a Chinese red song, Song of Rest, was played on site. The wording of the statement issued by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) afterward was very heavy: This is "whitewashing criminals who betrayed the country and sold out their comrades into a tragedy of mutual slaughter between KMT and CCP and a historical tragedy," representing "the most serious harm to national dignity." ¹⁵

Cheng Li-wen's response was divided into two parts. The first part was denial: She said she did not know beforehand that Wu Shi was on the mourning list; she went for "White Terror Memorial," not to "mourn a CCP spy." ¹⁶ The second part was an extension: She mentioned that when she was young, she had also gone on a hunger strike for Huang Hua, believing that tragedies between the two sides of the strait should be viewed within the same historical narrative—this is a language of "grand historical reconciliation." ¹⁷

But the second part is exactly the core of the controversy. When a "national security narrative" places a traitorous intelligence agent and ordinary citizens wrongfully imprisoned by the government in the same memorial ritual, history is rewritten. From the suppression of its own people by an authoritarian state, it becomes a "tragedy of civil war among Chinese people." This rewriting is no small matter—it slides the "victims of the Republic of China" from the position of "Taiwanese" to the position of "Chinese."

The core of the MAC's criticism was not "You shouldn't memorialize the White Terror," but "You reshaped the White Terror from a local victim narrative into a Chinese civil war narrative." This is a shift in identity.

This event and the phrase "Compatriots across the strait are all Chinese" in the Cheng-Xi meeting five months later are the same narrative appearing in two different contexts.

April 10, 2026: The End of the Trajectory, or the Midpoint

On the afternoon of April 10, 2026, Cheng Li-wen walked into the Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and met with Xi Jinping for about ten minutes. ¹⁸ She proposed five points, the most notable of which was "promoting the institutionalization of peaceful development in cross-strait relations, gradually achieving a 'peace framework'." Xi Jinping's response was "Compatriots across the strait are all Chinese, one family." ¹⁹

This meeting was called by herself a "Peace Journey." According to NPR's analysis, her strategy was to use Taiwan society's uncertainty regarding the Trump administration to build a "hedging, centrist" cross-strait positioning for the KMT. ²⁰ Atlantic Council researcher Song Wendi pointed out that Cheng Li-wen's talk of "institutional arrangements for preventing war" actually implies, in policy terms, "slowing down national defense military buildup and reducing US weapons procurement."

After the talks, the MAC summarized her performance with one sentence: "We repeatedly asked Chairperson Cheng to present the three major demands of the Taiwanese people to Xi Jinping—recognize the existence of the Republic of China, respect the will of the Taiwanese people, and stop military aircraft and ship harassment—but she didn't say a single one of them." Deputy Director Liang Wen-jie's tone was weary. ²¹

This moment has an absurd symmetry.

In 1988 at the NTU gate, Cheng Li-wen went on a hunger strike to force the government to release a Taiwan independence figure prosecuted for treason. At that time, she believed the "government" was an authoritarian regime. In 2026 in the Fujian Hall in Beijing, she sat opposite Xi Jinping, having spoken for no Taiwanese detained in Beijing—neither for Taiwanese political prisoners within China, nor for Taiwanese writers brought back to China for trial, nor for those Taiwanese scholars harassed abroad. She no longer protested; she was conversing.

Only this time, the person across the table was a different kind of authoritarian, with greater power and less concern for procedural justice.

Conclusion: Both Cheng Li-wens Are Real

Some say the Cheng Li-wen who hunger-stripped in 1988 is dead. The person who nodded to Xi Jinping in Beijing later is a completely different person wearing the same name.

Others say these two Cheng Li-wens are actually the same person—she has always been doing what she believed would most shake the "existing structure." In 1988, challenging the KMT's authoritarianism; in 2026, challenging the DPP's Taiwan independence narrative. The tools changed, the posture did not.

Both statements make sense. But perhaps there is a third: The Cheng Li-wen of 1988 and the Cheng Li-wen of 2026 are both real, and they are both products of the same Taiwan society at different stages. An island just emerging from martial law produced a youth who hunger-stripped for Taiwan independence; an island seeking a foothold under the shadow of China's rise produced a middle-aged political figure talking about a "peace framework" in Beijing. It is not that Cheng Li-wen changed, but that the shape of the Taiwan problem changed.

But this statement also has its cruel side: If Cheng Li-wen is a product of "the changing shape of the Taiwan problem," then the success of her route means the shape of the Taiwan problem has already been changed to the direction she originally hunger-stripped against.

So the real question is not "Has Cheng Li-wen changed?" but: Has Taiwan changed?

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Further Reading:

• 2026 Cheng-Xi Meeting: The Ten Minutes of the KMT-CCP Leaders' Reunion After Ten Years — The current endpoint of Cheng Li-wen's personal trajectory, the full scene and aftermath of that meeting
• Tai Strait Crisis and the Development of Cross-Strait Relations — The historical structure Cheng Li-wen was in ten years before and ten years after, the invisible forces that led this figure to Beijing
• Taiwan Political Environment and Electoral System — Why could "I am Chinese" become the KMT Chairperson's election slogan? The party member structure in the electoral system provides the answer
• Taiwan Democratic Transition — The year Cheng Li-wen hunger-stripped was the first year after lifting martial law; understanding her starting point requires first understanding the youth culture of those five years of democratization
• Ko Wen-je — Another cross-boundary political figure moving from green to blue (or white to blue); their paths are similar yet different
• Hsieh Tsai-yun — Another prototype of female political figures on the same 2026 stage, with a completely different path and corresponding view of Taiwan
• Han Kuo-yu — The "Party Chairperson + Legislative Yuan President" dual structure of the KMT in 2025-2026; Cheng Li-wen in the Party, Han Kuo-yu in the Legislature
• Chao Jung-tsai — The main proponent of the 1.25 trillion military procurement in the Executive Yuan; Cheng Li-wen's opposing position of "Party Version 380 Billion + N"
• Lu Hsiu-yan — Cheng Li-wen's opponent in the 2025 KMT Chairperson election, whose decision "not to run" opened Cheng Li-wen's entry channel
• Hsu Chiao-hsin — The proponent of the "800 Billion" version colliding with Cheng Li-wen's "Party Version 380 Billion + N" in the 2026 military procurement controversy
• Chi Lin-lian — The vice chairperson appointed by Cheng Li-wen in 2026; the person involved in the event where the KMT Central Committee pointed out Han Kuo-yu on 4/29, igniting the split in the blue camp

References

1. Cheng Li-wen - Wikipedia — Wikipedia records that Cheng Li-wen was born on November 12, 1969, in Kouhu Township, Yunlin County. Her father was a veteran from Yunnan who came to Taiwan, and her mother was from Yunlin. She grew up in a Veterans' Administration family background in Jingzhong Village No. 3, Tainan.↩
2. Cheng Li-wun - Wikipedia — The English Wikipedia records Cheng Li-wen's history of participating in the Wild Lily Student Movement and advocating Taiwan independence during her university years, as well as the extent of her participation in DPP party affairs during her student days.↩
3. Who is Cheng Li-wen? What are her studies, experience, and stories? - KidsMedia — KidsMedia compiles a special article on Cheng Li-wen's political transformation trajectory, including her 1988 hunger strike at the NTU gate for the Huang Hua Taiwan independence case, the DPP's persuasion for her to withdraw, and the key turning points from green to blue.↩
4. Cheng Li-wun - Wikipedia — The English Wikipedia records Cheng Li-wen's academic resume: obtaining an LL.M. in International Law from the Beasley Law School at Temple University in the US in 1993, and obtaining an MSc in International Relations from the University of Cambridge in 2000 while pursuing a doctorate.↩
5. Who is Cheng Li-wun? - Taipei Times — A deep-profile character report from the Taipei Times in November 2025, detailing Cheng Li-wen's background in Anglo-American law training, her status as a doctoral candidate in international relations, and her overseas study experience after being elected KMT Chairperson.↩
6. Cheng Li-wen - Wikipedia — Wikipedia records Cheng Li-wen's process of leaving the DPP in 2002 due to controversies over the handling of the Wu Rui-ren sexual harassment case, as well as her critical stance toward the DPP high command's handling of controversial cases.↩
7. Reaffirming Active Departure from DPP Cheng Li-wen: Discovered Taiwan Independence Was Long a Joke, a Scam - Liberty Times Net — A Liberty Times Net interview with Cheng Li-wen discussing her reasons for leaving the DPP, directly quoting her original words "Taiwan independence was long a joke, a scam," serving as first-hand data for her self-narrative.↩
8. Cheng Li-wen Breaks Through with Warrior Image, Green Camp Background Leads to KMT Chairperson Election - CNA — CNA compiles the full background of Cheng Li-wen's election as KMT Chairperson, recording the origin of her "warrior image" and how the path from the DPP to the KMT affected her positioning in the blue camp.↩
9. Zheng Liwen - Baidu Baike — Baidu Baike records Cheng Li-wen's complete judicial record during her tenure as Chairman of the KMT's Information and Communications Committee in 2005, when she was sued by Lin Chia-lung for violating the Election and Recall Act due to an election advertisement, initially sentenced to three months in prison with a one-year deprivation of public rights, later reduced to one month of criminal detention with a suspended sentence.↩
10. Cheng Li-wun - Wikipedia — The English Wikipedia records Cheng Li-wen's tenure and style positioning hosting the political talk show Li-wen's Strait Talk on the TVBS cable network during 2014-2015.↩
11. Cheng Li-wen Breaks Through with Warrior Image, Green Camp Background Leads to KMT Chairperson Election - CNA — CNA's election night report records the results of the 12th KMT Chairperson election on October 18, 2025, where Cheng Li-wen defeated Hao Lung-bin and Luo Zhi-qiang with approximately 50% of the vote, becoming the second female directly elected party leader in party history.↩
12. Revealing Reasons for Leaving DPP Cheng Li-wen: Discovered Taiwan Independence Is a Lie - China Times News Network — A China Times News interview with Cheng Li-wen in 2021, recording her original words "Taiwan independence is a lie" when publicly explaining her reasons for leaving the DPP, serving as a baseline for her long-term self-narrative of political stance shifts.↩
13. United Daily News Interview / Cheng Li-wen: Taiwan Independence Is a Scam, Blue Must Rise Up - United News Network — A character interview from United News Network during the 2025 KMT Chairperson election, recording Cheng Li-wen's stronger "Taiwan independence fascism" stance and her claims for reorganizing the KMT's route.↩
14. Cheng Li-wen Criticized for Mourning CCP Spy at White Terror Memorial, MAC: Severely Harms National Dignity - Economic Daily News — Economic Daily News records the controversy of Cheng Li-wen attending the "1950s White Terror Autumn Memorial Mourning Ceremony" in November 2025. The mourning list included CCP intelligence agent Wu Shi (executed at Machangding shooting range in 1950), providing the full event background.↩
15. KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wen Mourns Former Traitorous CCP Spy, MAC Takes Solemn Stance - MAC Official Website — A MAC official press release, directly criticizing Cheng Li-wen's narrative operation of whitewashing criminals like Wu Shi who "betrayed the country and sold out their comrades" into a "tragedy of KMT-CCP civil war," serving as the first-hand official statement of the government's position.↩
16. Attending White Terror Memorial Cheng Li-wen: Did Not Know It Included CCP Spy Wu Shi Beforehand - Public Television Service News — PTS News records Cheng Li-wen's direct response to the White Terror memorial controversy, stating she did not know beforehand that the mourning list included Wu Shi, and emphasizing that she attended the event for "White Terror Memorial" rather than to mourn a CCP spy.↩
17. Cheng Li-wen: White Terror Memorial Does Not Focus on Wu Shi and Others - CNA — CNA records Cheng Li-wen's further clarification after the memorial controversy, emphasizing that Wu Shi, Zhu Feng, and others are not within her definition of "political prisoners," and calling on all sectors to focus on historical facts.↩
18. Cheng-Xi Meeting Concludes Cheng Li-wen: Proposed 5 Points Including Expanding Taiwan's International Activity Space - CNA — CNA's on-site record of the Cheng-Xi meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 10, 2026, including the original text of Cheng Li-wen's five points and details of the meeting time, serving as first-hand records from the official news agency.↩
19. [Cheng-Xi Meeting] Xi Jinping's Full Speech Exposed, Proposing Conditions for Cross-Strait Peaceful Exchange - Newtalk News](https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2026-04-10/1029065) — Newtalk News exposed Xi Jinping's full speech at the Cheng-Xi meeting, recording the original words "Compatriots across the strait are all Chinese" and the prerequisite conditions of "adhering to the Nine-Point Consensus and opposing Taiwan independence."↩
20. China's Xi meets Taiwan opposition leader ahead of key summit with Trump - NPR — NPR in-depth analysis, quoting Asian affairs analysts' judgment on Cheng Li-wen's strategy for visiting China: leveraging Taiwan's anxiety regarding the Trump administration to push the KMT toward a "hedging, centrist" strategic positioning.↩
21. MAC: Asked Cheng Li-wen to Speak "Didn't Say a Single One," Continuously Echoing the Other Side - ETtoday — ETtoday records MAC Deputy Director Liang Wen-jie's direct comment after the Cheng-Xi meeting: Cheng Li-wen did not present the three major demands of the Taiwanese people to Xi Jinping (recognize the Republic of China, respect the will of the Taiwanese people, stop military aircraft and ship harassment), highlighting the gap between the meeting results and expectations.↩