Beijing, China - President Xi Jinping declared that he has "full confidence" China and Taiwan will reunify while addressing a delegation that included the island nation's opposition leader.

China's President Xi met with Taiwanese Opposition Leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, telling the visiting delegation he had "full confidence" that Taiwanese and Chinese people would soon be united.

Kuomintang (KMT) chair Cheng is the party's first leader to visit China in a decade, and her trip has sparked debate over claims that she is pro-Beijing.

Xi told Cheng that "the general trend of compatriots on both sides of the Strait getting closer, edging nearer and becoming united will not change."

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"This is an inevitable part of history. We have full confidence in this," Xi said during the talks reported on by Taiwanese media.

He also said that China was willing to strengthen dialogue with groups in Taiwan, including the KMT, on the "common political foundation of… opposing Taiwan independence."

The KMT supports closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has repeatedly threatened to use force to seize it.

Over recent months and years, these tensions have skyrocketed, with Beijing launching numerous military drills and live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait, many of which incur within the island nation's airspace.

Cheng echoed Xi's stance, telling a press conference after their meeting that by "opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war."

She told Xi that the Taiwan Strait should "no longer be a focal point of potential conflict" and "both sides should transcend political confrontation."

Cheng's trip comes a month before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi.