Dueling presidential visits to US and China show opposing visions for Taiwan
TAIPEI, Taiwan — In Los Angeles, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is preparing to meet with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday in a show of the strength of relations between Taipei and Washington.
On the other side of the world, Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, is in China on his own symbolic sojourn, touting instead the historic ties between Taiwan and the mainland.
The simultaneous visits to rival superpowers by Taiwanese presidents past and present underscore the increasing precariousness of peace on the democratically ruled island, and the uncertain path to maintaining it as relations between China, the U.S. and Taiwan have grown strained.
