Beijing courts Taiwan’s opposition leader ahead of Trump visit

April 10, 2026 — 5:30am

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Beijing: While the US is preoccupied with extracting itself from its war in Iran, China has been busy getting on with its core interests on its home turf.

This week, that involved shepherding Taiwan’s opposition leader Cheng Li-wun on a self-styled six-day “journey for peace” around China, building up to an expected meeting with leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

The movements of opposition leaders generally don’t warrant international news, but when it comes to the outsized role that Taiwan plays in the fierce strategic rivalry between the US and China, Cheng’s trip is significant.

As the new chair of Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party, a position she was elected to in October, she is the first opposition leader to visit China in a decade.

Beijing’s quick embrace of Cheng is a sign it sees in her an opportunity to advance Xi’s “China dream” sales pitch, the core pillar of which is unifying the democratic island with the mainland, even if Cheng and the KMT........

© Brisbane Times