A Special Report on China and America: Sore Points  

Oleh:

The Economist

Jenis: Article from Bulletin/Magazine
Dalam koleksi: The Economist (http://search.proquest.com/) vol. 393 no. 8654 (Oct. 2009), page 11.
Topik: Taiwan; China; America; Ma Ying-jeou; North Korea; Military Power

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: EE29.57 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

Lihat Detail Induk

Isi artikel

TAIWAN, as Chinese officials never tire of reminding their American counterparts, is the most important and sensitive issue in the two countries’ relationship. In the mid-1990s the two nuclear-armed states inched to the brink of war over the island. Since then Taiwan has been the pretext for a massive military build-up by China. Pragmatism has so far restrained China’s nationalist instincts, but for how long? Both China and America were relieved that elections in Taiwan in March 2008 returned a China-friendly president, Ma Ying-jeou. For nearly 15 years Taiwan’s transition to democracy, and the growth of Taiwanese nationalism which it fostered, had been adding dangerous unpredictability to cross-strait relations. America had been getting fed up with Mr Ma’s predecessor, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party, who revelled in riling China. China has offered Mr Ma some carrots. In May it allowed Taiwan to send a delegation to the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s governing body—the first time it had agreed to Taiwan taking part in any UN activity. Recently China criticised CNN for running an online poll asking whether Mr Ma should step down over his handling of the aftermath of a typhoon in August that killed hundreds of people. Its response to Mr Ma’s decision later in August to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan to pray for the dead was unusually muted. Mr Ma, notes Sun Yan of Peking University approvingly, bows regularly before a statue of Sun Yat-sen, a pre-communist revolutionary who is also held in reverence by China’s leaders. This, she says, “suggests in his heart he thinks of himself as Chinese”.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali