China said Sunday it would resume some ties it had suspended with Taiwan such as direct flights and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products following a visit by the Beijing-friendly opposition leader of the self-ruled island.

The Taiwan Work Office under China’s Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomingtang Party. It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products that it had previously banned.

Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomingtang, and China’s President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday during which they called for peace, without offering specifics. China claims the island as part of its territory and hasn’t ruled out the use of force to annex it.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees the relationship with China, said the measures that were announced, such as promoting a communication mechanism, were «political transactions» between the two parties that circumvented the government of Taiwan.

TAIWAN OPPOSITION LEADER MEETS XI IN BEIJING AS TAIWAN DEFENSE FIGHT INTENSIFIES

«The government’s position is clear: to ensure the interests of the nation and its people, all Cross-Strait affairs involving public power must be negotiated by both governments on an equal and dignified basis to be effective and truly protect the rights and well-being of the people,» the Mainland Affairs Council said in response to the Chinese announcement.

Relations between China and Taiwan, which remain split since 1949, have been tense since the election of pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016. Beijing cut off most of its official dialogue with Taiwan’s government, and has started sending warships and fighter jets closer toward the island on a daily basis.

BIPARTISAN HOUSE CHINA PANEL SLAMS BEIJING’S TAIWAN DRILLS AS ‘DELIBERATE ESCALATION’

XI Jinping meets with a delegation of the Kuomintang in Beijing, China, on April 10, 2026. Taiwan pushed back after China announced new cross-strait measures following Xi Jinping’s meeting with the Beijing-friendly opposition leader. (Li Xiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

In the statement, China said it plans to resume direct flights between Taiwan and mainland cities like Xi’an or Urumqi, although it remained unclear how the measures will be implemented without the approval of the Taiwanese government.

China banned its citizens from individual trips to Taiwan in 2019. Taiwan’s rules now require Chinese visitors to hold a valid resident visa from another country, like the U.S. or the European Union, to apply for a visitor visa.

US INTEL SOFTENS ON CHINA THREAT, SAYS NO TAIWAN INVASION PLANNED BY 2027 DESPITE MILITARY BUILDUP

Xi Jinping speaks during a meeting with Taiwan’s opposition leader Cheng Li-wun at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday, April 10, 2026. China is offering limited trade and travel openings to Taiwan while continuing to press its territorial claim over the self-ruled island. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP)

China also said it would work toward construction of a bridge that would connect the mainland to Matsu and Kinmen, Taiwanese islands that are closer geographically to China. The project is a longstanding proposal that Beijing has previously announced.

China banned the import of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, and since then has extended it to other fruits and products including the grouper fish, squid and tuna.

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After the initial ban on grouper, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture said it approached China about making adjustments to ensure it met import requirements. China replied with a limited list of individual companies that were allowed to sell to China, but without explanation.

First lady Melania Trump’s call for public hearings for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims is piling fresh pressure on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who only days earlier signaled the administration wanted to move past the saga even as bipartisan lawmakers and survivors continue demanding more files, testimony and prosecutions.

While the first lady called on Congress to take additional steps to let Epstein «survivors» tell their stories, Epstein victims and members of Congress themselves argued that the onus is with the Trump administration, not Congress. 

«First Lady asks Congress to bring Epstein survivors in for testimony. With all due respect, that’s Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s job!» Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has been at odds with the president and his administration over how it has handled the Epstein case, said after the first lady’s remarks. «Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and I already gave brave survivors a chance to tell their horrific stories on Capitol Hill. Pam Bondi wouldn’t even acknowledge them. PROSECUTE!»

«Actually, Congress did act,» added Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., in response to the First Lady’s Thursday night remarks calling on Congress to do more. «But Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche is violating the law and refusing to release the Epstein files as required by law.»

WHY MELANIA TRUMP IS DENYING ALLEGED SMEARS RELATED TO JEFFREY EPSTEIN–AND WANTS VICTIMS TO TESTIFY

Meanwhile, in a letter released by over a dozen alleged Epstein victims, survivors also put pressure on the Justice Department to do more.

«First Lady Melania Trump is now shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions that protect those with power: the Department of Justice, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the Trump administration, which has still not fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,» a letter allegedly signed by 15 Epstein victims, posted to social media by Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., stated. «It also diverts attention from Pam Bondi, who must answer for withheld files and the exposure of survivors’ identities. Those failures continue to put lives at risk while shielding enablers.»

«Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs,» the letter concluded.

MELANIA TRUMP’S FORCEFUL EPSTEIN DENIAL DRAWS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FROM LAWMAKERS

Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Justice and White House for comment on the first lady’s remarks and remarks from victims and members of Congress calling on the Trump administration to do more, but did not hear back. 

However, in a statement to NPR following the first lady’s remarks, the Department of Justice said: «As we have always stated, we encourage any victims of Jeffrey Epstein — who wish to speak — to contact the FBI. Any survivor who has information on an abuser is encouraged to contact federal law enforcement.»

Not long after taking the reins from former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Blanche insisted it was time for the Justice Department to move on from the Epstein case. 

«I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it … should not be a part of anything going forward,» Blanche said Thursday in an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters. He added that the DOJ «has now released all the files with respect to the Epstein saga.»

The Justice Department charged three individuals in connection with an alleged scheme to illegally export U.S. AI technology to China, officials said on March 19. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Still, several members of Congress think there is more to be done on the matter. 

Following the first lady’s remarks, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., indicated that House Oversight chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., agreed to call four named co-conspirators to testify. 

«And they won’t be the only ones,» the congresswoman added in a post on X. 

«There are a number of doctors we also have questions for, and the list continues to grow,» the Florida congresswoman continued. «I am calling on the DOJ to prosecute individuals who took plea deals under civil rights violations, and to consider additional charges where appropriate. If you traffic a young girl(s), you don’t get to pretend to be a victim. There is a massive difference.»

First lady Melania Trump (left) pictured next to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche (right). (Getty Images)

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Meanwhile, Khanna also demanded the first lady come testify in front of Congress, arguing her remarks show she is privy to «relevant» information, while Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said following the first lady’s Thursday night remarks that he and his colleagues still want to see Bondi testify to Congress. 

«Pam Bondi knows more about this cover-up and why the botched release of the files happened the way they did in doxxing survivors and putting their information out there, not protecting their identities. Pam Bondi must testify, that is her legal obligation.»

«I think there’s enough Republicans that also agree — she has been subpoenaed — they had a legal subpoena,» Garcia told CNN. «The DOJ and Todd Blanche continue to cover up for Donald Trump, continue to want this to go away, but we are going to continue to push every single day.»

Nuevo León nunca ha sido un estado promedio. En la historia moderna de México, ha sido, una y otra vez, primer lugar en productividad, en industria, en generación de empleo, en capacidad exportadora. Aquí nacieron empresas de clase mundial que compiten en cualquier mercado del planeta, y aquí también llegaron empresas globales que entendieron algo muy simple: si quieren producir, crecer y competir, Nuevo León es el lugar.

Esa es la doble cara de nuestra fortaleza: lo que construimos desde casa y lo que atraemos desde el mundo. Y hay que decirlo claro: eso no es nuevo. Esa grandeza no empezó ayer, es producto del esfuerzo de previas generaciones y de valores de responsabilidad social, de eficiencia y de gobiernos profesiones que hoy parecen estarse erosionando.

Lo que sí es nuevo, y lo que sí exige que le echemos ganas, es lo que no hemos resuelto. Porque mientras somos potencia industrial, también arrastramos una deuda profunda de gobernabilidad. Una deuda en transparencia, una deuda en rendición de cuentas, una deuda en coordinación real. Ahí está el verdadero reto. No se trata de inventar un nuevo Nuevo León, sino de ordenar el que ya tenemos para que funcione para bienestar de todos.

Gobernador, hay que echarle ganas donde realmente hace falta: en hacer de Nuevo León el primer lugar en transparencia, no solo en producción; en construir instituciones que den certeza, no solo discursos que generen expectativa; en abrir la toma de decisiones para que estén ahí quienes conocen los problemas y quienes pueden ayudar a resolverlos: universidades, empresarios y las familias que tienen esa ética norteña de trabajo duro y construir un patrimonio a pulso. Y la instancia existe para lograrlo existe, es la Mesa de Coordinación Metropolitana, como una herramienta real para hacer lo que durante años no hemos logrado: pasar de tener problemas comunes a construir soluciones comunes.

Ese es el punto de quiebre. Si logramos coordinar a la Zona Metropolitana y el estado entero con visión, datos y planeación, Nuevo León puede dar el siguiente salto en su historia. Y ese salto no es solo económico, también es social. Porque otro pendiente claro es reconstruir la sociedad de clase media luchona que definió al estado durante décadas: esa donde una familia sabía que el trabajo sí llevaba al bienestar, donde el esfuerzo cotidiano se traducía en movilidad social real, donde estudiar, emprender y trabajar tenía sentido y recompensa.

Ahí es donde el pensamiento de Don Eugenio Garza Sada cobra una vigencia total y empata con el ADN del Plan México de la Presidencia de la República. Él lo decía con claridad: “El verdadero progreso es aquel que eleva a todos”. Y también lo practicaba, pues bajo esa ética surgieron y crecieron empresas emblemáticas que no solo generaban utilidades, sino comunidad; empresas que despertaban respaldo social y lealtad, porque eran vistas como generadoras de riqueza para todos y no como extractoras o acumuladoras sin responsabilidad. Ese es el industrialismo norteño con compromiso social que hoy merece regresa al centro del escenario.

No es casualidad que este estado concentre algunos de los clústeres manufactureros más dinámicos de América Latina, ni que el fenómeno del nearshoring esté encontrando aquí uno de sus principales destinos, pero como bien advierten economistas como Dani Rodrik, el crecimiento económico solo es sostenible cuando está acompañado de instituciones sólidas y de inclusión social; de lo contrario, se vuelve frágil, desigual y eventualmente insostenible. Ese es el punto de fondo. Porque lo que hoy está en juego no es si Nuevo León puede crecer, eso ya lo demostraron generaciones previas a las que no hay que robarles o regatearles el mérito, el reto es si nuestro querido estado puede crecer mejor y traducir su potencia económica en bienestar compartido.

Por eso hay que echarle ganas para construir un modelo de comunidad donde la inversión siga llegando, pero donde también se traduzca en mejores salarios, en más oportunidades, en movilidad social real, en seguridad y paz cívica; donde el crecimiento no se quede arriba, sino que baje a las colonias, a las familias, a la vida diaria. Ese es el verdadero estándar que debemos ponernos: crecimiento con justicia para transformar a esta gran tierra.

Si algo le sobra a Nuevo León es capacidad. Lo que ha faltado es orden, coordinación, y generosidad política y productiva que nos unifique alrededor de una esperanza.

Por eso, gobernador, el mensaje es directo, sin rodeos y con respeto: echémosle ganas donde sí importa. No en presumir por moda, likes o facilismos las cosas en las que siempre hemos sido buenos, sino en corregir lo que nos está frenando. En construir CERCANÍA con los retos de las familias, HONESTIDAD verificable por la sociedad y CAPACIDAD surgida de nuestros centros de conocimiento y de servidores públicos profesionales y con experiencia. Porque cuando un estado tan fuerte como Nuevo León construye metas comunes, puede ser la mejor versión de su brillante historia.

**El autor es Alcalde del Municipio de General Escobedo en Nuevo León, México, y Presidente de la Mesa de Coordinación Metropolitana, Sociedad y Gobierno en la Zona Metropolitana de esa entidad de la República Mexicana.