On the front page of the Living in China Blogzine, there is a decidedly misinformed, strangely anachronistic article titled "Ignore The Rhetoric, China Won't Attack," to which I will offer a rebuttal from a Mainland perspective at some point later this evening, if schedule allows. Until such time, however, I want to point you to an excellent article on the "Reunification" issue in the Christian Science Monitor, consistently one of the best newspapers in America; particularly is this true in its even-handed reporting on all things Chinese.
No, I am not shilling for CSM, even though they did give one of my books a review and accompanying double-truck feature story any author would kill for, which spun my head in glorious literary reverie for weeks. It is just a damn good newspaper that many people ignore because of its religious entity ownership that has absolutely nothing to do with its editorial content, ever.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- Four months after national elections that returned an ardent Taiwanese patriot to the presidency - deeply disappointing China and raising tensions in East Asia - Taiwan is adopting a creatively conciliatory approach to the mainland. It is reducing anti-China rhetoric and backing off provocative promises for a new constitution. Dyed-in-the-wool advisers to President Chen Shui-bian speak of going to the mainland for talks, inconceivable months ago. ...
In what seems like an abrupt reversal for Taiwanese leaders who earned their stripes in opposing China, senior officials are talking about restarting formal dialogues with Beijing, setting up military confidence-building measures like phone hotlines to the People's Liberation Army, and taking up "direct links" that allow exchange across the Taiwan Straits.
"It is a completely new horizon, as far as I can see," says Andrew Yang, director of the China Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei. "I think Chen may have taken some advice from Washington." ...
So heady is a conciliatory spin in Taipei that talk of high-level visits to the mainland are in the wind. Beijing has never allowed a core member of the pro-independence circle into the country before. But Chiou-I Jen, the new chairman of the National Security Council and Chen's political strategist, could visit Guangdong as early as next week, according to Mr. Yang. This visit could not be independently confirmed.
"Chiou's visit is very important as a way to smooth hurdles to possibly reopening a dialogue," Yang says.
Read the rest of this fine analysis--which includes a very handy clickity-click interactive timetable on the history of Taiwan and Mainland China--at the Christian Science Monitor
