Taiwan has barred the Dalai Lama from visiting the island next month. ...
A spokeswoman for Ms Lu said the ban reflected a fear of angering China.
Yeah, wouldn't want to anger China. They might think they should attack the place.
They already consider Taiwan their property:
China has enraged several neighbors with a few dashes on a map, printed in its newly revised passports, that show it staking its claim on the entire South China Sea and even Taiwan.
Inside the new passports, an outline of China printed in the upper left corner includes Taiwan and the sea, hemmed in by the dashes. The change highlights China's longstanding claim on the South China Sea in its entirety, though parts of the waters also are claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.
China's official maps have long included Taiwan and the South China Sea as Chinese territory, but the act of including those in its passports could be seen as a provocation since it would require other nations to tacitly endorse those claims by affixing their official seals to the documents.
But I'm being unkind. I'm sure there are really big-brained explanations available that explain why throwing Tibet under the bus and Taiwan's general policy of coddling Peking is way different from just pretending that China doesn't want to take over Taiwan, isn't building a military capable of seizing the island, and isn't going to include Taiwan in their increasingly aggressive talk about territory around China's periphery that they must have.
Taiwan might even be the last core interest that China settles in their favor! Reset!
UPDATE: Perhaps Taiwan realizes they are setting a bad precedent:
The government welcomes religious figures from all over the world to Taiwan, the Presidential Office said yesterday, adding that the Dalai Lama case will be further assessed by the executive branches of the administration.
Yes, further assessment would be good.
