Cheng Li-wun, the head of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT), is leading a delegation to China from April 7 to 12. It’s the first such visit by a KMT chair in a decade, and Cheng is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The KMT, originally the ruling party of the Taiwanese dictatorship and vehemently opposed to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has become considerably friendlier to the CCP than Taiwan’s now-ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is.

Many had assumed Cheng’s trip would come only after U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China. Instead, after Trump’s trip was postponed, Beijing moved Cheng’s visit forward. On the surface, this separates the two events and reinforces Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is a purely domestic matter for China. Yet Beijing clearly hopes to use Cheng’s trip—especially a Xi-Cheng meeting—to influence, and perhaps alter, some of Trump’s assumptions about Taiwan.

Cheng Li-wun, the head of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT), is leading a delegation to China from April 7 to 12. It’s the first such visit by a KMT chair in a decade, and Cheng is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The KMT, originally the ruling party of the Taiwanese dictatorship and vehemently opposed to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has become considerably friendlier to the CCP than Taiwan’s now-ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is.

Many had assumed Cheng’s trip would come only after U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China. Instead, after Trump’s trip was postponed, Beijing moved Cheng’s visit forward. On the surface, this separates the two events and reinforces Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is a purely domestic matter for China. Yet Beijing clearly hopes to use Cheng’s trip—especially a Xi-Cheng meeting—to influence, and perhaps alter, some of Trump’s assumptions about Taiwan.

What Beijing is really contesting is who gets to define “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait and what actually produces it.

The strait has often been described as one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints. China has repeatedly conducted military exercises around Taiwan, and tensions have at times appeared severe. Yet the strait has,........

© Foreign Policy