Taiwan’s opposition party has demanded an apology from China’s state-run China Central Television after it claimed that a Taiwanese delegation set to attend a cross-strait forum later this month was to “beg for peace” with Beijing.

Kuomintang chairperson Johnny Chiang wrote on his Facebook account on Friday evening that the claim made on a CCTV news program was unacceptable, and demanded an apology to the party and Wang Jing-pyng, a former speaker of Taiwan’s legislature leading the delegation.

The delegation’s aim was to facilitate cross-strait exchange — similar to 11 previous events — and could not be interpreted as “begging for peace,” Chiang said.

Thursday’s CCTV program aired the headline: “This person is coming to the mainland to beg for peace.” This was in reference to the Sept. 19 forum to be held in the Fujian city of Xiamen.

The footage drew fierce criticism in Taiwan, with former vice president Annette Lu urging Wang and the KMT to call off the visit altogether to “show Taiwanese people’s dignity.” Going ahead with the visit would amount to self-belittlement, she said.

Mainland authorities handling Taiwan affairs were quick to distance themselves from CCTV, and said on Friday that CCTV’s claim did not represent an official stance.

Both the mainland and Taiwan belonged to “one family” and Wang’s delegation would be welcomed across the strait, said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Amid mounting concern, the CCTV program changed its tone on its Friday’s episode, with host Li Hong describing Wang’s delegation to the mainland as “helpful to cross-strait exchange.”

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