Xi recalibrating Taiwan policy ahead of election

Chinese leader Xi Jinping seems to be recalibrating his hard-line approach to Taiwan in the year before the island holds a presidential election that his preferred negotiating partner has a shot at winning.

Kuomintang KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia was expected to visit China on Wednesday, the latest in a series of friendly gestures between the two onetime foes in the Chinese civil war. Over the course of nine days, Hsia is expected to visit several Chinese cities, including the capital, where he will meet Song Tao, a former top Communist Party diplomat who now oversees affairs across the Taiwan Strait.

China intends to resume imports from more than 60 Taiwanese food companies that were among the exporters it barred last year. It pulls back on an unofficial punishment China has used to show displeasure with President Tsai Ing-wen for activities like fostering ties with the U.S.

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