Word: straitly
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...rival, China. The two separated in 1949 after Mao Zedong's Communists were victorious in a civil war with the KMT, which fled to the island of Taiwan and set up its own government. Beijing and Taipei have engaged in a military standoff ever since and the heavily armed strait that separates them remains one of Asia's hottest potential flashpoints. China still sees Taiwan as a runaway province and claims sovereignty over the island to this...
...with China by launching direct transportation links, lifting restrictions on Taiwan businessmen operating in China and opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists and investors. Ma, a Harvard-trained lawyer, also broaches the idea of setting in place "confidence-building measures" to scale back the military build-up along the Taiwan Strait. "The more we open ourselves up," Ma recently told TIME, "the more we interact with the mainland, the chances of war will be less...
...Taiwanese identity. Since its landmark 2000 electoral loss, however, the KMT has learned to be more democratic and open to public sentiment, and it found a new message, oddly enough, in its historical ties to China. As Lin Chong-pin, president of the Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies, puts it, the KMT "had no stage in Taiwan but found a stage in China." In 2005, then KMT chairman Lien Chan made a breakthrough visit to Beijing, during which he buried the hatchet with the party's communist foes. The DPP "perceives the mainland as a threat. We should...
...Even if Ma overcomes Hsieh and wins the presidency, he could face serious hurdles in realizing his vision of improved cross-strait relations. Much of his success will depend on the attitude of Beijing. On the surface, the interests of Ma and Hu Jintao appear to be dovetailing. Under Hu, whom Ma compliments as "sophisticated," China has dramatically softened its stance toward Taipei, and Hu these days sounds ready to compromise. In his speech opening the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress in early March, Hu reiterated his offer to sign a peace treaty. "Status in negotiations would be equal...
...believes Taiwan can have it all. "We could accomplish a lot of things across the Taiwan Strait without damaging Taiwanese interests, Taiwanese dignity or Taiwanese security," he says. If he's right, the political map of Asia would be changed forever...