Taiwan To China: Let's Talk For First Time In 55 Years

[NATO AIR]

a hopeful development and overture from taiwan to china

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3730456.stm

Taiwan head seeks China dialogue

Chen made conciliatory noises towards China
Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian has said he is ready for talks with China.
He was speaking on National Day in Taiwan, which the communist mainland regards as a renegade province.

"Because we can't communicate, there's a lot of misunderstanding," said Mr Chen, who China has accused of pursuing independence since election in 2000.

The US welcomed the "constructive message", but the Chinese government said only that it had "taken note" of the remarks and would reply later.

It is the first time that President Chen has given a major speech since Jiang Zemin stepped down from his last official post in China, as head of the powerful Central Military Commission.

Mr Jiang is widely felt to have maintained China's tough line on Taiwan.

Flights and weapons

President Chen called for arms control talks to try to defuse military tensions between China and Taiwan.

"In the long term, both sides should formally end the state of hostility across the Taiwan Strait and establish confidence-building measures through consultations," Mr Chen said.

Any conflict could cause irreparable damage to both sides

Chen Shui-bian
The president called for the establishment of a "code of conduct" by the two rivals as a guarantee of permanent peace between them.

He also said China should talk to Taiwan about direct charter flights from the island to the Chinese mainland.

However, he also defended his proposal to seek a multi-billion dollar purchase of US armaments.

"Every citizen should recognize that increasing Taiwan's defensive strength is the first condition of preserving the peaceful status quo in the Taiwan Strait," he said.

He said China has 600 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan and is adding more every year.

A US State Department spokeswoman said the president's speech "offers some creative ideas for reducing tension and resuming the cross-strait dialogue".

But the BBC's Taiwan correspondent Chris Hogg says the president failed to offer the one concession Beijing insists is a pre-condition to the start of any negotiations, namely acceptance that Taiwan is part of China.

Our correspondent says it is hard to see much positive coming out of the speech in the absence of such an acknowledgement.

China's sensitivities

China is sensitive to gestures which promote a national identity for Taiwan. It complains vociferously about anything it sees as a move towards independence.

Analysts point out that any friendly gestures by President Chen could be undermined by the changes to the way Taiwan's national day is being marked.

Out go the traditional logos of the national flag and the plum blossom, the national flower used by the president's opponents - the nationalist Kuomintang who ruled Taiwan for four decades.

In their place new symbols meant to showcase a new Taiwan, such as a green image of the island with two doves.

Traditional slogans such as "Long live the Republic of China" - the island's official name - have been dropped.

China has always threatened to react with force to any official changes to the island's flag or its name in an effort to dissuade Taiwan's leadership from seeking independence.

 

[Comrade]

China's sensitivities

China is sensitive to gestures which promote a national identity for Taiwan. It complains vociferously about anything it sees as a move towards independence.

Analysts point out that any friendly gestures by President Chen could be undermined by the changes to the way Taiwan's national day is being marked.

Out go the traditional logos of the national flag and the plum blossom, the national flower used by the president's opponents - the nationalist Kuomintang who ruled Taiwan for four decades.

In their place new symbols meant to showcase a new Taiwan, such as a green image of the island with two doves.

Traditional slogans such as "Long live the Republic of China" - the island's official name - have been dropped.

China has always threatened to react with force to any official changes to the island's flag or its name in an effort to dissuade Taiwan's leadership from seeking independence.

Point being nobody better not bring any fucking plum blossoms to any Chinese summit unless they want to start a war.

People always crack me up when they talk about America as the warmongering threat to peace and justice in the world. Every time I read this about China I have to again recall just how dumb the anti-American crowd really is.

Wars have been fought for much less than our reasons in Iraq. Two Latin American countries once fought in a conflict sparked off over a soccer match!

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/elsalvador.htm


All the smug American-haters can see for themselves the obvious replacement of the USA is China, who still has a 50+ year old hard on for their Communist vendettas.

Communists must all go to a special school to talk like they are insane and ready to kill millions in war for really pathetic little things which are 'symbolic'. I mean sure, the Taiwanese can buy billions in weapons which are all aligned exclusively to oppose Beijings government, and obviously it's free millions are all telling China to go to hell in their vast popular support for such measures.

But the idea of Taiwan actually declaring the obvious is to provoke China into war? Now how stupid is that?

Whatever China!

 

[NATO AIR]

oh yea we cannot dare to stand up to china on darfur or other areas of the world where china's greed is causing war and death...we must not offend their sensibilities.

bunch of fucking wimps.