Taiwan’s conservative opposition leader has a very unusual problem. She needs to get close to the communist dictator threatening to conquer her country — but not so close that the voting public starts thinking they’re actually friends. Kuomintang Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun sat down with American reporters on Friday at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C., where she reflected on her two-week tour of the United States. She has visited world-class universities such as Harvard and Columbia, met with congressional members from both chambers, and spoken with some of President Donald Trump’s closest allies.One of her goals on this trip was to advocate against her own island’s sovereignty, characterizing self-declared independence as a frivolous and illegitimate provocation that could drag American soldiers into a war with Beijing. Her other goal was to convey to U.S. leaders that, despite that stance — and whatever her opponents might tell them behind her back — she is not some kind of crypto-communist.
“Some of [the people I met with] chose to tell me voluntarily that there were rumors about me before my arrival in D.C. … to deter my meeting with them,” Cheng told the reporters. “Even so, they decided to still meet with me in person and to try to clarify those rumors.”
