Word: bian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...brave a boycott of the Olympic Games, a drop in foreign investment, an economic downturn, even regional instability in order "to uphold national unity and territorial integrity." Like all Taiwanese, Wong has heard similar strident threats from China before. This time, however, he blames his own President, Chen Shui-bian, for deliberately baiting Beijing by stirring the pot of independence at home in a crude attempt to boost his re-election chances next March. "I suspect all he cares about is staying in power," says Wong, who until recently counted himself among Chen's supporters...
...APPROVED. TAIWAN REFERENDUM LAW, passed by the island's legislature, which for the first time will allow Taiwanwide referendums, a gesture of sovereignty that could rile Beijing, which maintains that Taiwan is part of China; in Taipei. President Chen Shui-bian had supported a broad measure that would have allowed a plebiscite on any constitutional changes, but the opposition Kuomintang managed to pass a law that prohibits a vote on constitutional issues and independence (unless Taiwan is attacked by the mainland...
...mainland. In 1996, when Taiwan's first direct presidential elections aroused concern on the mainland that democracy would draw the island further away from unification, Beijing reacted angrily by lobbing missiles over the Taiwan Strait. Four years later, the pro-independence background of Taiwan's current President Chen Shui-bian elicited a televised harangue by former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji on the eve of the presidential polls. But during this year's presidential walk-up, China has been strangely quiet, even though some of Chen's policies, such as a push for a new constitution, arouse suspicions that...
...previous elections China's attempts to influence the outcome have boomeranged. After China launched its missiles in '96?prompting the U.S. to rush two aircraft carriers to the region?voters gave Lee a landslide victory. Four years later China directed its ire at presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian, whose Democratic Progressive Party sprang from the pro-independence movement. Beijing branded him a "dangerous" separatist and threatened "a blood-soaked battle" to reunite with Taiwan. Chen was a long shot until then, but ended up winning. "China has learned to shut up," says Emile Sheng, a professor at Taiwan's Soochow...
...scandals; in Taipei. Liu, chairman of China Development Financial Holding Corp., was one of the most powerful figures in Taiwan's former ruling party during the 1990s. If convicted, he faces up to 16 years in jail. Liu's indictment is being taken as evidence that President Chen Shui-bian's administration is serious about its pledge to crack down on corruption...