TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party accepted an invitation from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit in April, her party and Chinese state media reported Monday.

Kuomintang (KMT) chairperson Cheng Li-wun, who took up her role in November, has insisted on meeting Xi before she makes an official trip to the United States, drawing criticism from inside and outside her party that she is too pro-China.

The KMT advocates closer relations and more exchanges with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

Cheng “gladly accepted” the invitation to lead a delegation to China, her party said in a statement, confirming a Xinhua report.

Cheng “looks forward to joint efforts by both parties to advance the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, promote cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, and work for peace in the Taiwan Strait and greater well-being for people on both sides,” the statement said.

Chinese state media said the delegation would visit the eastern province of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing from 7 to 12 April, but did not specify if Cheng would meet with Xi, which she has been publicly pushing for.