Taiwan's Opposition Leader Tours US, Fresh Off Xi Meeting, As Trump Nixes Call With Taiwanese President
Just two weeks ago, when fielding questions from reporters about the now paused massive US arms package to Taiwan, President Trump stated: "I have to speak to the person that right now is - you know who he is - that's running Taiwan."
And now, in the wake of Trump's May Bejing visit to meet within Xi Jinping, CBS reports, "President Trump is no longer expected to speak with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te before Chinese President Xi Jinping's potential trip to the United States this fall, multiple sources familiar with the discussions" stated.
Xi had warned Trump that Taiwan could become a "very dangerous situation" if mishandled - and since then the estimated $14 billion weapons package has been put on pause.
That a sitting US president is not speaking to Taiwan's elected leader is actually normal based on Washington's policy of strategic ambiguity, and official acknowledgement of 'One China'. Trump is signaling that this will not change for now:
No sitting U.S. president has spoken directly with a Taiwanese leader since 1979 due to diplomatic sensitivities in managing relations with China, although in December 2016, while Mr. Trump was president-elect, he received a congratulatory call from then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ying-wen.
"I think [Lai], if he has time, would love to tell him our side of the story, the Taiwan story, which is one that — of resiliency, of a state staying up against the Chinese aggression," Alexander Yui, Taiwan's Representative to the U.S., told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on May 17.
But while the self-ruled island's leader Lai Ching-te is in political limbo and waiting on the sidelines as Washington and Beijing continue to try and heal relations, the head of Taiwan's lead opposition party will be touring around the United States:
In April, Cheng Li-wun became the first leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party to meet Xi Jinping in a decade. On Monday, she is flying to the U.S. with a message Beijing would recognize as its own.
Cheng, the chairwoman of the Kuomintang, is set to begin a two-week U.S. tour that is billed as a peace mission but also carries the weight of U.S.-China geopolitics. It is happening as Beijing is urging Washington to rethink its support for Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that doesn’t recognize Beijing’s claim to govern it.
Cheng is a possible contender in Taiwan’s 2028 presidential election, in a party that has traditionally supported reconciliation with China. Her message for an American audience is that Taiwan—formally the Republic of China, not to be confused with the People’s Republic of China—operates under a constitution that already supports the principle that the island and the mainland are part of a single China. Cheng maintains that she, not the current government, is the leader best positioned to guarantee stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Importantly, The Wall Street Journal speculates on the possibility of Cheng meeting with Trump, or possibly other White House officials - though it seems unlikely:
If Cheng returns home having secured high-level American access, she can present herself back home as the one figure capable of managing both Beijing and Washington.
“That,” Sacks said, “would be a fairly formidable proposition.”
The question is whether President Trump will play along. People close to the White House said Cheng shouldn’t expect meetings with top administration officials, pointing to a policy framework in which the administration engages foreign opposition leaders only when they are seen as likely future heads of government—a bar Cheng hasn’t cleared.
Cheng has expressed her willingness to meet Trump, though she has also said that is likely to be hard.
This is all about steering self-ruled Taiwan into China's orbit, and Beijing asserting political power to do so in the face of the Trump administration, after China has long stated its official policy of reunification to the mainland through political means.
Beijing has continued to present itself as the only peace guarantor and as a force for stability and is seeking 'Taiwan's willing participation' - at a moment the Middle East is on fire largely as a result of American policy and quickness to result to force and surprise attacks.
It will be interesting to see who in the Administration will meet with her. At a minimum, it will be the Managing Director of AIT Washington, Ingrid D. Larson.
— Dennis Wilder偉德寧 (@dennisw5) June 1, 2026
Taiwan’s main opposition leader, Cheng Li-wun, is set to begin a two-week U.S. tour as Beijing urges Washington to…
Xi and Cheng, when they met in Beijing back in early April, expressed a desire for a "peaceful" resolution to the many decades-long Taiwan crisis, and posed for photos at the Great Hall of the People. They engaged in public remarks but also held a private, closed-door meeting.
Cheng emphasized in words to reporters that Chinese and Taiwanese officials should work to "transcend political confrontation and mutual hostility." She stated, "Instead, it should become a strait that connects family ties, civilization and hope – a symbol of peace jointly safeguarded by Chinese people on both sides."
Her rhetoric was tinged with familiar Chinese Communist Party talking points as she heralded China's supposed eradicating of absolute poverty while seeking to achieve the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".