Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Join or Die

The Chinese had warned the Taiwanese about their elections giving power to the pro-independence movement on Taiwan. Not that their loss means China is willing to live and let live:
Cross-strait relations can change only "if the authorities in Taiwan recognize that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is a part of it, and if they give up their Taiwan independence stance and stop Taiwan independence activities," Li [Weiyi, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office] said at a regular briefing.

China wants Taiwan back and nothing the Taiwanese do will do more than affect China's tactics for achieving this paramount strategic goal of Peking.

The Chinese are making it clear to Taiwan that one way or another, China will absorb Taiwan. The Taiwanese need to get serious about building a military to defend their freedom and prosperity. If they think a military build up will threaten their economy, they should think about what Chinese mainland rule will do for it. And freedom so recetnly gained will be gone for good.