Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou startled observers with a trip to the island ofItu Aba (also known as Taiping) in the South China Sea. It was a move certain to annoy Beijing, yet it came from the leader of a party, the Kuomintang (KMT), that had seemed committed to a more conciliatory approach. Indeed, in early November, Chinese President Xi Jinping had sat down with Ma in Singapore for the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of Taiwan and the mainland since the communist victory in China's civil war in 1949.This latest move seemed a stark reversal of such responsible behavior.

Ma's proposed island junket also upset Taiwan's protector, the United States. One U.S. official termed the planned trip "extremely unhelpful and does not contribute to the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea."Ma ignored that, and similar rebukes, and conducted the trip as scheduled.