China and Taiwan: What role for the Kuomintang?

JUST after China’s People’s Liberation Army sent ballistic missiles flying over Taiwan and effectively blockaded the island’s ports in a ferocious show of force following a visit by United States Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the vice-chairman of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, Andrew Hsia, began a 17-day visit to the mainland with cries of “traitor” ringing in his ears.

Upon his return, KMT chairman Eric Chu had one word to describe Hsia, who had met mainland officials responsible for dealing with Taiwan: “Brave.”

This is an apt description, though perhaps not the only one. The KMT knew that Taiwan’s governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would cast the trip as a betrayal of Taiwan: cosying up to the mainland at the very time when Beijing was threatening the continued existence of the island as a political entity.