Cheng Li‑wun, leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, urged reconciliation with Beijing during a visit to the Sun Yat‑sen Mausoleum in Nanjing — a site honoring the founding father of the Republic of China, revered in both Taiwan and mainland China.
Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University and an expert on Chinese foreign policy, says Cheng’s visit amounts to political theater, with Washington and Beijing being the real decision makers.
Carlson says: “This week, China and Taiwan appear to be stepping back from the prospect of military conflict as Taiwan’s opposition leader, Kuomintang politician Cheng Li‑wun, visits China on what she has called ‘a journey for peace.’ Yet, it is pollyannaish to think this trip will lead to a breakthrough across the Taiwan Strait. It is little more than a prelude to the previously delayed meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, now scheduled for mid-May.
“Taiwan’s fate lies more in the hands of those two men than anyone else’s. The looming questions are how impatient Xi has become with Taiwan’s continued resistance to Beijing’s unification ambitions, and whether Trump — eager to claim a historic trade deal with China — will downgrade American support for Taiwan. Cheng’s travels to China are but a sidebar to such queries.”
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