Word: strait
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...because it is emblematic of a larger point. Though Europeans seem blithely unaware of it, the strategic balance in East Asia is extraordinarily fragile. Political relations between China and Japan are frosty. Japan has, for the first time, just agreed with the U.S. that peace in the Taiwan Strait is one of its security objectives. North Korea could yet collapse into chaos, unify with the South, and leave China without a buffer state between itself and the U.S.'s allies. Many of the tensions in the region would be resolved if China were to develop into a democratic society that...
...follow the American model. They vow at regular intervals that they recognize only One China?the People's Republic?but then send diplomatic personnel to Taipei (under commercial cover), trade with the Un-China, and maintain discreet official contact. The much heavier burden of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait?making sure China doesn't try to take Taiwan by force, or Taipei doesn't provoke Beijing into trying?is shouldered by Washington alone...
...Japan is lending the U.S. support on that potential battle line. Two weeks ago, Washington and Tokyo issued a joint communiqu? that specifically cites peace in the Taiwan Strait as a common objective of the two allies. That came just weeks before China's National People's Congress is expected to enact an anti-secession law that may require the mainland to declare war if Taiwan declares independence, and days before U.S. President George W. Bush went to Europe and tried to dissuade the E.U. from lifting its 16-year embargo on selling arms to China?arms that would...
...Japan's new stance won't alter the fundamentals of the nearly 60-year cross-strait standoff, and isn't likely to nix what appears to be a minor thaw between Beijing and Taipei. The recent Lunar New Year holiday saw the first nonstop commercial flights between the mainland and Taiwan, and last week Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian made a pact with James Soong, a rival politician who wants better ties with China, not to declare independence, change Taiwan's formal name from the Republic of China, or rule out eventual unification with China...
...tourist visa to visit Japan. It's inconceivable that Koizumi and Chen could meet or even officially communicate: Tokyo doesn't recognize Taiwan's existence as a nation. But at least it no longer ignores the potential threat to Asia's stability posed by the state of the strait...