Saturday, March 22, 2008

Peace in the Future for China and Taiwan?


In Saturday's elections, Taiwan decided that they were going to try a different strategy in their relationship with China. Instead of demanding to be completely free from China, the people of Taiwan elected a President who promised closer economic ties between his state and China. This is a landmark election for Taiwan, because Taiwan has never elected a President who ran on that particular platform. With the economic growth that has been seen in China over the last few years, Taiwan wants to see the prosperity it enjoyed in the 1990's by possibly hopping on to the Chinese economic train.

The new President, Ma Ying-jeou, is not in favor of reuniting with China, but he does know that Taiwan does need a closer relationship with the mainland. He has also condemned past aggression that China has shown to its provinces, including the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989. Right now, the first step for Mr. Ma is to increase the economic ties with China, and then he will see from there what steps to take. He wants regularly scheduled flights from Taiwan to Beijing and Shanghai, as well as lifted restrictions on Taiwan companies to invest on the mainland. It does not mean that peace is imminent, but it may be a step in that direction.

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