Taiwan opposition defends ‘brave’ China outreach a

The head of Taiwan’s main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) defended its “brave” outreach to Beijing over the weekend after a senior official visited China on a trip condemned by Taipei’s government and which upset even some party members.
China’s military drills near the democratically governed island this month in response to a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were widely condemned in Taiwan, including by the KMT.
But the KMT’s decision to send its deputy chairman Andrew Hsia to China on what the party said was a pre-arranged visit to the Taiwanese business community there shortly after the exercises began caused a storm of controversy.
Late Saturday after he returned, Taiwan’s China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said Hsia was wrong to go and that opposition parties should recognise that China is “the instigator of the destruction of peace in the Taiwan Strait”.