Taiwan's opposition leader used the 68th anniversary of the Kinmen artillery battle to press President Lai Ching-te to change course on China — a peace pitch to some, a capitulation to others.

• KMT chair Cheng Li-wun says cross-strait tension would drop sharply if Lai accepted the 1992 Consensus under the Republic of China constitution.
• She spoke on Kinmen, the front-line island shelled by China in 1958, and paid respects at the war cemetery there.
• She warned that a Taiwan Strait clash could pull the world toward a third world war, just as the 1958 shelling once threatened to.
• She also attacked Lai for pushing the "two states" line, saying no country backs Taiwanese independence.
• She accused him of ignoring the legislature and blocking bills it has passed, calling that damage to democracy itself.

Outlook: Lai's government is unlikely to accept the 1992 Consensus, so the fight over how to handle Beijing will stay at the center of Taiwan's politics.