Overview
- Cheng Li-wun, who leads Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang, is set to visit Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing from April 7–12 after accepting an invitation from Xi Jinping.
- Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council warned that Beijing aims to cut off U.S. military procurement and to block the government’s special defense bill tied to those purchases.
- The defense package at issue totals NT$1.25 trillion in the ruling party’s plan, while the KMT caucus backs a far smaller “NT$380 billion plus N” framework and some KMT figures urge NT$800 billion to NT$1 trillion.
- Analysts say going to Beijing before a planned U.S. trip and ahead of a mid-May Xi–Trump summit risks optics that favor China and could yield statements Beijing uses to shape U.S. policy on Taiwan.
- Cheng says she wants to show the two sides are not destined for war and cites visiting U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s view that dialogue is good, a stance that could sway how Taiwanese voters judge the KMT’s security posture.