China closed a chapter in its history this week with the visit to the mainland by Mr. Lien Chan, the head of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party. Mr. Lien’s trip was the first by a KMT leader since Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949, abandoning the country to Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party. It is tantalizing to think that the visit might herald a breakthrough in cross-strait relations, but it is the product of tactical calculations by both sides. The question now is whether it will increase tensions between Taipei and Beijing.