Taiwan, China's Symptom
The Chinese Government will pass "the anti-secession law" this week, basically making it legal for the People's Liberation Army to use force to keep Taiwan a part of China. If China attacks, military experts predict that the Taiwanese could hold out for a month before caving into the superior fire power of the Mainland. It's not bad considering that this is an island of 23 million, hanging like a subtropical appendix to Mainland's bulk. What will remain of the island after the month-long seige may not be very attractive to those hungry to maintain the Motherland's indivisibility at all costs.
Along with military threats, the Mainland has waged a battle for the diplomatic and political isolation of this island nation, which is not a member of the United Nations and only an observer at the WHO. The Communists are tenacious about Taiwan's international status, if only because of the bad hangover of Chiang Kai-shek's rule, when the US recognized the island as "China" and called the other part, "Red China" or a Communist aberration that would eventually have to be taken down. The Generalissimo handled himself like the arrogant puppet ruler dictator of a place he despised, even as he and his friends and family claimed the best chunks of Taiwanese real estate for themselvves -- and that is the rub for the Taiwanese. The Mainlander Kuomintang kept the reins of government tightly in their hands and fully expected to be back on the right side of the Straits with American military backing. Now that they've got self-rule, they are determined to retain their sovereignty at all costs.
After the fall of the military dictatorship here in 1987, there has been a growing sense of 'local' identity -- and the yearning for independence comes after nearly a century of Japanese occupation and the brutal and rather indifferent rule of the Kuomintang. It is certainly clumsy, and its intellectual by-product is the explosion of Taiwan Studies, but it has great populist appeal. But even as Taiwan has made a peaceful transition to democracy and is building fledgling democratic institutions, even as its middle class becomes more prosperous and more sophisticated, it is ignored by the EU, and sidestepped by other nations fearful of alienating its powerful and demanding neighbor.
The President of Taiwan, or the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian tried last year to change the official name of Taiwan from the Republic of China to Taiwan, causing an instant uproar at home and abroad. Not everyone here is willing to accept that change either -- the Communists claim that this is the de facto declaration of independence. And Taiwan cannot be a sovereign state. So strangely enough, as long as Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China, everything is copacetic, for the time being.
And so this sore spot in name and in fact continues to demand a resolution -- it's like an itch you can't scratch, but both sides refuse to negotiate -- for the Communists, negotiations would be tantamount to recognizing Taiwan's existence as a separate entity. Does Beijing negotiate with Anhui for instance?
Complicating matters, economic relations between the two sides of the straits have never been better. Taiwanese businessmen have driven the economic engine behind China's growth in recent years.
Along with military threats, the Mainland has waged a battle for the diplomatic and political isolation of this island nation, which is not a member of the United Nations and only an observer at the WHO. The Communists are tenacious about Taiwan's international status, if only because of the bad hangover of Chiang Kai-shek's rule, when the US recognized the island as "China" and called the other part, "Red China" or a Communist aberration that would eventually have to be taken down. The Generalissimo handled himself like the arrogant puppet ruler dictator of a place he despised, even as he and his friends and family claimed the best chunks of Taiwanese real estate for themselvves -- and that is the rub for the Taiwanese. The Mainlander Kuomintang kept the reins of government tightly in their hands and fully expected to be back on the right side of the Straits with American military backing. Now that they've got self-rule, they are determined to retain their sovereignty at all costs.
After the fall of the military dictatorship here in 1987, there has been a growing sense of 'local' identity -- and the yearning for independence comes after nearly a century of Japanese occupation and the brutal and rather indifferent rule of the Kuomintang. It is certainly clumsy, and its intellectual by-product is the explosion of Taiwan Studies, but it has great populist appeal. But even as Taiwan has made a peaceful transition to democracy and is building fledgling democratic institutions, even as its middle class becomes more prosperous and more sophisticated, it is ignored by the EU, and sidestepped by other nations fearful of alienating its powerful and demanding neighbor.
The President of Taiwan, or the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian tried last year to change the official name of Taiwan from the Republic of China to Taiwan, causing an instant uproar at home and abroad. Not everyone here is willing to accept that change either -- the Communists claim that this is the de facto declaration of independence. And Taiwan cannot be a sovereign state. So strangely enough, as long as Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China, everything is copacetic, for the time being.
And so this sore spot in name and in fact continues to demand a resolution -- it's like an itch you can't scratch, but both sides refuse to negotiate -- for the Communists, negotiations would be tantamount to recognizing Taiwan's existence as a separate entity. Does Beijing negotiate with Anhui for instance?
Complicating matters, economic relations between the two sides of the straits have never been better. Taiwanese businessmen have driven the economic engine behind China's growth in recent years.
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