Xi invites KMT chairwoman to China
The diplomatic calendar, in its usual calm and orderly fashion, has delivered two Taiwan-related developments at once.
Taiwan’s Kuomintang, the island’s largest opposition party, said its chairwoman will travel to China next month after an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping. The party said the trip is scheduled for April.
China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that Cheng will be in China from April 7 to 12 and will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu province in the east.
Bipartisan U.S. senators arrive in Taiwan
At the same time, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, according to local media.
The delegation is being led by Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and John Curtis, the Republican member of the committee and a former Mormon missionary in Taiwan. Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Jacky Rosen are also part of the visit.
According to the Financial Times, the trip comes about a month before Donald Trump is expected to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14 and 15. The visit is meant to show U.S. support for Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.
It is also the first visit by U.S. senators to Taiwan since last summer, and it comes as President Lai Ching-te and his Democratic Progressive Party struggle to persuade Kuomintang lawmakers to back a $40 billion defense spending bill. The measure would help pay for weapons Taiwan plans to buy from U.S. defense companies.
