Taiwan Opposition Head Touts China Talks in First Trip in Decade

The leader of a party stalling Taiwan’s $40 billion defense expansion departed for China with a message: Diplomacy is as much a deterrent as American weapons.

Cheng Li-wun, the China-leaning head of the self-ruled democracy’s largest opposition party, flew out for a six-day visit on Tuesday under the banner of protecting the chip hub from a Chinese invasion. Both supporters and protesters gathered outside Songshan Airport in Taipei before her departure.