Word: straits
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Last week, a Chinese official, Zhang Mingqing, fell to the ground as another mob of angry protesters pushed and shoved around him during his visit to a temple in the city of Tainan. The protesters specifically targeted Zhang, who, as vice-chairman of the Chinese organization responsible for cross-strait relations, was seen as a symbol of China's sway over Taiwan. Meanwhile, Ma has watched his approval rating sink to about...
...expected benefits from the measures taken to improve links to China have yet to materialize. The anticipated rush of big-spending mainland tourists, for example, has proven to be only a trickle, due to continued restrictions on travel to Taiwan imposed by Beijing. "I think the good cross-strait policies have been blamed as a scapegoat for the downturn in the economy," says Chao Chien-min, a political scientist at National Chengchi University. "If times were better, I think the general attitude towards China would not be so strong...
...financial crisis of historic proportions. Causing needless confrontation with China by building an incredibly expensive, untested, and provocative national missile shield would invite military aggression against important American allies such as Japan and South Korea. Needless to say, it is also likely that the recent thaw in cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China would be adversely affected as well. This is not to say, however, that the United States government should give Beijing a blank check to conduct its affairs as it wishes. We are extremely concerned about several issues where further Sino-American cooperation and reform from Beijing...
...declined in subsequent centuries, thanks to increasingly vigilant militaries and the development of the steam engine. But amid a drop in naval patrols and a boom in international trade following the end of the Cold War, it has flourished anew - particularly in narrow choke points such as Asia's Strait of Malacca and the Gulf of Aden, which links the Red and Arabian seas. Buoyed by fast boats, fearsome weaponry and high-tech communications gear, pirates carried off 263 reported heists in 2007 - 28% of which occurred in the treacherous waters off Nigeria and Somalia, where vast coastlines and feckless...
...Pago Pago, Tipoti's fellow Torres Strait Islander Joey Laifoo has been on his own voyage of self-discovery. Raised on Badu, Saibai and Thursday islands, this grandson of a pearl diver grew up with stories of how his grandmother's side of the family had migrated to Torres Strait from American Samoa; his grandfather's people originally came from Western Samoa. While his affinity with Samoan culture and language is hardly surprising - "I'm blending in really well" - there is still much to learn, he says: "So why did they move to Torres Strait and settle up there...