April 7, New Delhi — Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun departed for China on a "peaceful journey" and a potential meeting with President Xi Jinping.
Cheng, chairwoman of the Kuomintang, Taiwan's largest opposition party, is travelling at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory, and as the opposition-dominated parliament stalls a government plan for $40 billion in extra defense spending.
Cheng is going to China a month before U.S. President Donald Trump's scheduled summit with Xi in Beijing. This is the first trip by a KMT leader to China in a decade.
China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, refuses to speak to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, saying he is a "separatist".