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BEIJING: As a Trump-Xi summit looms and debate over Taiwan\u2019s defence intensifies, Kuomintang (KMT) chair Cheng Li-wun is heading to China – the first sitting party chair to do so in a decade – in what analysts describe as a politically-charged signalling exercise.<\/p>\n
Washington is weighing heavily on both Beijing\u2019s and the KMT\u2019s calculations, analysts told CNA, with the visit likely to be closely scrutinised in Taiwan, China, and the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cCheng is trying to thread a needle between three audiences,\u201d said Li Yaqi, a research assistant at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Cheng will lead a KMT delegation to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing from Apr 7 to 12 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Xinhua reported, citing Song Tao, head of the Communist Party\u2019s Taiwan Work Office.<\/p>\n
Cheng later confirmed that she had \u201cgladly accepted\u201d Xi\u2019s invitation, reiterating opposition to Taiwan independence and adherence to the \u201c1992 Consensus\u201d, an understanding that both sides acknowledge there is \u201cone China\u201d while leaving room for different interpretations of what that means.<\/p>\n
She added that she hoped to show Taiwanese that \u201cwar across the Taiwan Strait was neither inevitable nor necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n