Back in her days as a Taiwanese student activist, Cheng Li-wun gave fiery speeches urging the island to sever its

Chinese bonds and declare independence. She lashed out at the Nationalist Party, which had ruled over Taiwan for decades

after fleeing defeat in China, casting it as the latest colonizer to oppress the island.

Now Ms. Cheng is, to the astonishment of many, the leader of the very Nationalist Party that she once despised, after

winning the party’s leadership election in October. She recently bowed in respect at the grave of Chiang Kai-shek, the

draconian Nationalist Party leader whom she once reviled. These days, she says that Taiwan’s people should proudly

declare that they are also Chinese.

Ms. Cheng’s abrupt rise to power in the Nationalist Party and her urgent calls for rapprochement with Beijing have made

her the most polarizing and potentially disruptive opposition leader that Taiwan has seen in years.

The plan, intended largely to buy weapons from the United States, will be one of Ms. Cheng’s first major political

tests. Ms. Cheng has not said outright whether she opposes the increase, but she has questioned whether Taiwan can

afford it, and whether the arms orders would help secure peace or make tensions worse. She said that Mr. Lai was

recklessly turning the Taiwan Strait into a “powder keg.”

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