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Can Taiwanese opposition leader pull off balancing act during US trip?

Taiwan’s main opposition leader is due to arrive in the United States late on Monday for a politically sensitive two-week visit expected to attract close…

By Samantha Johnson / June 1, 2026

Taiwan’s main opposition leader is due to arrive in the United States late on Monday for a politically sensitive two-week visit expected to attract close scrutiny in Beijing, Taipei and Washington.

The Kuomintang delegation, led by the party’s chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, will land on Monday evening local time in San Francisco, where she will visit Taiwanese-American communities and think tanks.

She will also travel to Boston and New York before visiting Washington for meetings with political figures and think tanks that will form the centrepiece of her visit.

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The KMT has yet to disclose whom specifically Cheng will meet.

It is the first visit to the US by a KMT leader in nearly two years and follows her high-profile trip to mainland China in April. There, she met President Xi Jinping, who urged patience on the issue of reunification and called for more cross-strait exchanges.

Peace is a ‘common wish’: Taiwan opposition leader meets Xi Jinping in Beijing in rare visit

It was the first meeting between the heads of the Communist Party and KMT in a decade. Days later, Beijing announced a package of 10 measures aimed at promoting exchanges with Taiwan that appeared designed to bolster Cheng politically.

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