Word: straitness
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...move to reunify them by force. While it undertakes to supply Taiwan with enough weaponry to ward off invasion by the mainland, it also strenuously avoids sending signals that might encourage the island to declare formal independence - an eventuality that would almost certainly provoke a war across the Taiwan Strait. The long-term view associated with "strategic ambiguity" is that economic and political developments currently under way will break down the barriers between them, making peaceful reunification a real possibility. Indeed, with their own economy slowing, Taiwan's entrepreneurs are increasingly channeling their investments onto the mainland, giving the Taiwanese...
...President Bush is correct, in one sense, that his stance is consistent with his predecessors' - it has always been conceivable that Washington would weigh the direct use of force if Taiwan were attacked, and as recently as 1996 the Clinton administration moved two carrier battle groups into the Taiwan Strait when Beijing appeared to be threatening a missile strike on the island. But it's never said as much, nor does it have any formal defense pact with Taiwan, precisely to avoid emboldening the Taiwanese to declare independence, which would almost certainly drive Beijing...
...Although some people in Washington make the argument that Taiwan has changed fundamentally since that policy was adopted, and that the geopolitics of the Taiwan Strait have changed so much that the policy should be changed. Others are not convinced that anything has changed to the extent that requires rethinking "strategic ambiguity." And there's always the danger of giving Taiwan a signal that they have carte blanche to do what they will and the U.S. will defend them. Taiwan may take that as a signal to push the edge of the envelope on independence, and provoke Beijing to seek...
...16th century, Eurasians have populated entrepots like Malacca, Macau and Goa. The white men who came in search of souls and spices left a generation of mixed-race offspring that, at the high point of empire building, was more than one-million strong. Today, in Malaysia's Strait of Malacca, 1,000 Eurasian fishermen, descendants of intrepid Portuguese traders, still speak an archaic dialect of Portuguese, practice the Catholic faith and carry surnames like De Silva and Da Costa. In Macau, 10,000 mixed-race Macanese serve as the backbone of the former colony's civil service and are known...
...protagonist is chased across the screen by a funny-looking monster; at another, somebody asks him about his personal hero while he is dressed as Hugh Hefner. And throughout, the film’s often eccentric questioners—a large robot, a philosophizing guitarist, a strait-jacketed kook and a pillow-clutching man walking through the streets in baggy pajamas, among others—succeed in stimulating the viewer with their odd appearances...