Chinese leader Xi Jinping appears to be recalibrating his hard-line approach to Taiwan in the year before the island holds a presidential election that his government’s preferred negotiating partner has a shot at winning.
Kuomintang (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia was expected to visit China on Wednesday, the latest in a series of friendly gestures between the two onetime foes in the Chinese civil war. Hsia is expected to visit several Chinese cities over nine days, including the capital, where he’s likely to meet Song Tao, a former top Communist Party diplomat who now oversees affairs across the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing has also signaled it intends to resume imports from more than 60 Taiwanese food companies that were among exporters it barred last year. That move pulls back on an unofficial punishment China has used to show displeasure with President Tsai Ing-wen for activities such as fostering ties with the U.S.