Opposition visit begins in Shanghai
Taiwan’s main opposition leader arrived in Shanghai on Saturday for a visit to China that will run until April 12, with the stated goal of promoting "peace" across the Taiwan Strait, according to Chinese state media including Xinhua.
The trip comes with the usual regional complications, which in this case means plenty of diplomatic tension and no shortage of suspicion from Taipei.
Taipei warns of pressure over U.S. arms sales
Taiwan’s government has warned that Beijing will likely try to block U.S. weapons sales to the island during the visit. The trip has also sharpened attention on Kuomintang chair Cheng Li-wun, who is the first sitting leader of the party to travel to China since 2016.
Cheng has insisted on meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping before any possible visit to the United States, Taiwan’s main security backer. Critics, including some inside her own party, accuse her of being too friendly toward Beijing. Politics, as ever, is a field where everyone is certain the other side is far too cozy with the wrong people.
Cheng calls for peace and trust
A video circulating online showed Cheng receiving a bouquet of flowers after stepping off a Shanghai Airlines plane before walking away. Before departing for Shanghai, she told reporters that Taiwan "must do everything possible to prevent war from breaking out."
"Preserving peace means preserving Taiwan," Cheng said at a news conference at the Kuomintang headquarters in Taipei. "It is necessary to build goodwill and expand mutual trust, step by step, on both sides."
The visit places Cheng at the center of a familiar and highly sensitive balancing act between Taiwan, China and the United States, with each side watching the other closely and nobody pretending otherwise.
