Tragedy of Taiwan

The Island of Taiwan has not been an integral part of China for thousands years. The Qing dynasty took control over it---along with Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria---in the seventeenth century and then lost it after its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War two hundred years later. In the 1940's, Mao Zedong actually told Edgar Snow, an American journalist, that after the CCp defeated the Japanese , it would let Taiwan become independent.

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During the 1990's , the Communist Party sought to bolster its support by portraying itself as the defender of China's nationalist honor on the world stage. As China scholar Tom Christensen observed, "the CCP is more beholden to its long-held nationalist mission(i.e., Taiwan reunification] than never before . In fact , other than the raising of living standards, noting is more important to the CCP's claim to rule than its nationalist credentials.

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The State Department hinted at possible retaliation if the Taiwan president takes further steps to change the status quo, perhaps by withholding approval for arms sales , denying Taiwan officials visas to visit or transit through the United States, or some other sanction. The Bush administration demonstrated the credibility of this threat by denying President Chen apporval to transit anywhere in the mainland United States on his way to visit Latin America. page 266 "China" Susan L Shirk

If China wants to rise peacefully in a responsible way. I think she has a lot of things to do, and the democratic countries should help the independence of the country with democratic constitution if its people are determined to get the independence.