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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (90528)	12/13/2004 10:57:05 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793745

Taiwan thinks twice about Chen's push for independence Barnett ¦"Taiwan's Vote Is Likely to Ease Anxiety in Beijing," by Jason Dean, Wall Street Journal, 13 December 2004, p. A14. ¦"In Taiwan Ballot, Ties With Beijing Seem to Be a Winner: Pragmatic voters see gains from a reduction in hostility to China," by Keith Bradsher, New York Times, 12 December 2004, p. A8. ¦"China's Saber Rattling: Paying Off? Outcome of Taiwan Vote May Bolster Beijing's Hard-Line Stance," by Joseph Kahn, New York Times, 13 December 2004, p. A8. ¦"Taiwan Watches Its Economy Slip to China," by Keith Bradsher, New York Times, 13 December 2004, p. C7. So President Chen Shui-ban's dream of a majority for his Democratic Progressive Party does not come about, leaving control in the hands of those Kuomintang, who oddly enough, despite their origins (they were the losing side in the Chinese civil war of 1945-49) favor better ties with China by maintaining Taiwan's purposefully vague status relative to China. So sad to think we may have missed this year's chance for a military showdown between the U.S. Navy and China off the straits of Taiwan. It would have been very good for my business. Sad also to say, the Kuomintang party is far less likely than the DPP to approve America's proposed $18b sale of high-tech military hardware to Taiwan. Oh well, democracy can often be a bitch like that. Must have been all that Chinese saber-rattling that scared the voters into such a meek outcome. Or maybe it's the fact that Taiwan now exports two times as much to China as it does to the U.S., whereas in the beginning of the 1990s, Taiwan's exports to the U.S. were roughly 5-to-1 over those to China. God damn economic connectivity! Pretty soon it's going to ruin the whole security business. Then what we do? Simply hunt terrorists and nation-build all day long?