China Prepared To Use Force Against Taiwan And Tibet Independence

Taiwan is holding its presidential elections on Saturday, and once again its dealings with Beijing are set to be a key election issue.

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan went to the polls on Saturday to elect a president who could usher in a new era in relations with political rival China in one of the hottest potential flashpoints in Asia.

Taiwan’s more than 17 million voters will choose a successor to President Chen Shui-bian, an anti-China firebrand who steps down in May and who has repeatedly angered Beijing with his pro-independence rhetoric.

The two candidates have toughened their stances on China following Beijing’s crackdown in Tibet, but to help the domestic economy, both advocate more direct flights, tourism and investment opportunities between Taiwan and China.

Ma advocates a common market with China.

“I’d like to see us become the Switzerland of the east, not the Cuba of the east,” he told a campaign rally late on Friday.

Hsieh says that could cause Taiwan to be flooded by Chinese laborers and shoddy products, and the island may end up suffering the same fate as Tibet.

“When you look at Tibet, do you feel scared or not?” Hsieh’s vice-presidential candidate, Su Tseng-chang, yelled to supporters on Friday.

There are a few places in the world where political tension has left arch-enemies eyeballing each other across a narrow divide.

… a 1,500 metre-wide stretch of water between the Chinese port of Xiamen and the Taiwanese-controlled island of Jinmen is another contentious border.

As Taiwan prepares to hold a presidential election, the tiny island of Jinmen is a reminder of ongoing political tension in the Taiwan Strait.

The two sides separated after a civil war in China in 1949, leaving Taiwan in limbo – it is not a separate country, but it is not part of China either. If continuing tension between the two sides escalates, this narrow stretch of sea could once again become the front line in a new war.

In his “state-of-the-union” address to the Chinese parliament earlier this month, Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated China’s position on this issue.

“We will never allow anyone to separate Taiwan from the motherland in any guise or by any means,” he told delegates.

“Reunification of the two sides is inevitable in the course of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

That has basically been China’s position for the last half a century or so, but it is not sitting idly by and waiting for its hopes to be fulfilled.

It has reserved the right to use force against Taiwan if it declares independence, and is believed to have missiles still pointing at the island to back up that threat.

China calls on U.S., Japan to keep their word on Taiwan issue

“China hopes the United States and Japan will carry out their promises of not supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ or Taiwan authority’s proposed ‘referendum on UN membership'”, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in a written interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency.

Yang made the remarks in response to a question on the influence of Taiwan issue on Sino-U.S. and Sino-Japanese relations.

Yang told the Russian journalist that Taiwan issue is one that matters the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and a great concern of 1.3 billion Chinese people and tens of millions of overseas Chinese.

Taiwan issue has always been the most important and sensitive one in the relations between China and United St hasates.

Tibet Unrest Colors Taiwan Elections

Taiwan, Tibet and Beijing in 2008 Mr Ma said that if he wins the presidential election, he will not rule out the option of boycotting Beijing Olympics. “If the Chinese authorities continue to suppress the Tibetan people and the situation in Tibet worsens.”

For the problems of Tibet and Xinjiang, from the political point of view, they are much simpler than Taiwan as they are under the sovereignty of Beijing and there is no single country that recognises their independence.

China is destroying its image while trying to save it. China cannot downplay its oppressive methods to the world. Today’s technology, much of provided by China, allows the world a peek at China’s methodology … their disinformation is exposed. With world focus on the proud Beijing Summer Olympics, the distraction of oppressive conduct and unhealthy environs has China in a quandary.

In an unusually blunt message, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao blasted Therese Shaheen, Chairwoman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), for saying Washington had never said it “opposes Taiwan independence.”

The analysts said even more than semantics, Beijing was concerned about the apparently “pro-Taiwan” sentiments of Shaheen, the newly appointed AIT head.

In speeches made in Taiwan and the U.S., Shaheen had praised the Taiwan experience in democratization, adding that Taiwan need not fear the mainland because U.S. President George W. Bush was the “guardian angel” of Taiwan and its president, Chen Shui-bian.

Shaheen, believed to be close to the U.S. defense establishment, also reportedly urged Taiwan to buy more American weapons.

In the past fortnight, Beijing has applied more pressure on Washington to help rein in President Chen’s “creeping independence.”

Bush buddies up with China while US diplomats encourage Taiwan, providing military protection. The Chinese government sees through this hypocracy. The Olympics can be a platform for reconciliation, or an opportunity for dissension. Those opposed to China’s human rights failures and anger over ethnic suppression want the world’s attention. Knowing that the world is at China’s mercy for affordable products, regardless the human and environmental cost, they strive to become the Empire they once were. What they fail to recognize is that imperial methods of absolute rule have evolved into a more democratic scheme. A more informed Chinese population that feel they deserve basic rights as advertised in political rhetoric. The contradictions revealed are more blatant than ever, now that the 2008 Olympics are shining light on China.

WASHINGTON — China’s violent crackdown on protesters in Tibet is having powerful political reverberations in Washington, where the White House is weighing how far to go in condemning the Chinese government, even as it defends President Bush’s decision to attend the Summer Olympics in Beijing.