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Taiwan\u2019s main opposition leader will make a rare trip to China on Tuesday, weeks before US President Donald Trump, with Beijing expected to use the visit to increase its influence over the democratic island.<\/p>\n
Cheng Li-wun, who will become the first sitting chairperson of the Kuomintang (KMT) to travel to China in a decade, said she wants to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to build cross-strait \u201cpeace\u201d.<\/p>\n
Taiwanese officials and experts, however, say Xi sees an opportunity to reinforce Cheng\u2019s standing in the KMT and stymie further US weapons sales <\/a>to Taiwan.<\/p>\n The KMT has long advocated for closer relations with China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.<\/p>\n But Cheng, whose unexpected rise to the top of the KMT drew congratulations from Xi in October, has been accused by critics, including inside the party, of being too pro-China.<\/p>\n Cheng\u2019s visit comes as the United States \u2014 Taiwan\u2019s most important security backer \u2014 intensifies pressure on Taiwanese opposition lawmakers to approve a proposal for defence purchases, including billions of dollars worth of US weapons, to deter a potential Chinese attack.<\/p>\n The KMT leader, who has railed against the government\u2019s New Taiwan $1.25 trillion ($39 billion) plan, faces deepening divisions inside her party over how to counter China\u2019s military threats.<\/p>\n Cheng backed a KMT proposal to allocate NT$380bn for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions, but more moderate senior figures in the party are pushing for a much higher budget.<\/p>\n Beijing sees \u201ca need to rescue Cheng Li-wun\u201d from a \u201cpower crisis\u201d, Albert Tzeng, a former KMT adviser, told AFP.<\/em><\/p>\n Xi\u2019s endorsement of Cheng will make her critics wary of attacking her, Tzeng said.<\/p>\n And Xi, who has tied taking Taiwan to his vision of the \u201cgreat rejuvenation of the Chinese nation\u201d, can show Beijing is \u201cnot losing Taiwan altogether to the United States\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s top China policy body warned Beijing had \u201csummoned\u201d Cheng for the purpose of cutting off \u201cTaiwan\u2019s military purchases from the US and cooperation with other countries\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBeijing\u2019s intention, in short, is to internalise the cross-strait issue, treating it as a domestic matter for China, with foreign intervention prohibited,\u201d Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Liang Wen-chieh said on Thursday.<\/p>\n Cheng hit back, saying: \u201cThis trip is entirely for cross-strait peace and stability, so it has nothing to do with arms procurement or other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n While KMT party members regularly fly to China for exchanges with officials, its last leader to visit was Hung Hsiu-chu<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n China severed high-level contact with Taiwan that year after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing\u2019s claims on the island.<\/p>\n Cross-strait relations have worsened since then as China ramped up <\/a>military pressure with near-daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near Taiwan and regular large-scale military drills.<\/p>\n Xi\u2019s invitation to Cheng shows Beijing has identified her \u201cas part of the force who support unification\u201d, said Tzeng Wei-feng, from National Chengchi University\u2019s Institute of International Relations.<\/p>\n Taiwanese people have mixed views about Cheng\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re talking with other democratic countries, I think agreements might still have some effect,\u201d 47-year-old Mac Peng told AFP.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut if you\u2019re negotiating with the Chinese Communist Party, that\u2019s just suicidal.\u201d Glen Ger, 60, was more optimistic, saying the KMT would \u201clet everyone know that public opinion isn\u2019t completely one-sided, so they can understand that people want peace\u201d.<\/p>\n The trip enables the KMT to tell voters that they \u201care the ones who can actually lead Taiwan towards the direction of peace and stability\u201d, said Lev Nachman, a political science professor at National Taiwan University.<\/p>\n A friendly meeting with Cheng could help Xi \u201cundermine the argument for US-Taiwan defence cooperation\u201d ahead of the summit<\/a> with Trump in May, said Wen-Ti Sung, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council\u2019s Global China Hub.<\/p>\n While the United States has long been ambiguous about its willingness to defend Taiwan, Washington remains Taipei\u2019s biggest arms supplier, which angers Beijing.<\/p>\n<\/a>Public views mixed<\/h2>\n
<\/a>US arms sales<\/h2>\n