Word: straits
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...another orange speck flickers on the radar screen, the captain gently pushes his twin-engine Lambro up to 30 knots. Two hours into an overnight patrol, the coast guard boat glides nearer its invisible target in the narrow strait separating the Greek island of Lesbos from mainland Turkey. The 36-ft. (11 m) cruiser slows as it draws close to its quarry, and its four Greek sailors gather at the front windshield. One of the men trips the Lambro's floodlights. Bobbing in the open sea 50 feet away are five young men, shielding their eyes from the sudden beam...
...highest-ranking Chinese envoy to visit Taiwan in 60 years landed in Taipei this week, ringing in a new era of cross-strait relations with unprecedented trade and transport agreements. It is the first time that a top Chinese official has come to Taiwan, the island off mainland China that claims autonomy, and China claims as its own. Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who met with the high-ranking Beijing diplomat, has advocated closer economic ties with China and a more pragmatic approach to its sovereignty dispute...
...Chen avoided controversy in the quick meeting by not using titles - China refers to Ma as "Taiwan's leader" and Taiwan says he's president. They affirmed the Nov. 4 trade pacts will take effect in 40 days, including an expansion of direct cross-strait flights, direct shipping and postal links, and increased cooperation on food safety in the wake of the recent melamine contaminations. Roughly five million Taiwanese travel to China each year, and the agreements are expected to reduce travel time and costs. Ma and Chen also agreed to meet once every six months and find ways...
...blocked by Beijing. If China wants this chumminess to go its way, it would be wise, says Lin, to reconsider that stance, too. With a growing opposition movement in Taiwan, he says, "If Beijing does not make any flexible adjustment, it's bad news for Ma, and for cross-strait relations...
...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...