Taiwan’s opposition leader kicked off a landmark visit to mainland China, a trip critics have said is part of Beijing’s efforts to sow division on the island.
Cheng Li-wun’s trip, the first by the head of the Kuomintang in a decade, comes weeks before a scheduled summit in Beijing between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and with Taiwan’s legislature deadlocked over a major expansion of defense spending amid increasing military pressure from China.
Cheng’s arrival in Shanghai marks a remarkable transformation for her: She was a firebrand in favor of Taiwanese independence, but now supports engagement with Beijing. Opponents in Taiwan, however, see her as “a fair-weather politician, an opportunist with little principle.”