Taiwan's opposition leader, Cheng Li-wun, is set to visit China for the first time in a decade that her party leader has made a significant step towards winning friends in China. This comes a few weeks before President Donald Trump arrives in China and coincides with a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Cheng, who took over as party leader in November, has made an about-face about embracing China, arguing that the island of 23 million people urgently needs to engage with China to avoid war. She also opposes a proposed $40 billion increase in defense spending over the next eight years by Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te, which has stalled approval of the government’s budget. The timing of Cheng's visit coincides with her opposition to the proposed increase of arms sales to Taiwan by the United States, a major issue of U.S.-China relations.