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Taiwan Chief: China Is Separate (AP, August 03, 2002)

President Chen Shui-bian referred to Taiwan and China as two countries on Saturday, echoing comments by his predecessor three years ago that drastically raised tensions with China.

While discussing the Taiwan-China relationship during a video telecast to Taiwanese living in Japan, President Chen Shui-bian said, ``Simply put, with Taiwan and China on each side of the (Taiwan) Strait, each side is a country. This needs to be clear.''

With China's economic growth, assuming it can be maintained, must come eventual political loosening. And, when it does, it's impossible to imagine that the country can be held together. From Taiwan to Hong Kong to Tibet, the empire will surely implode just as has every other empire of the modern age. That's why it's inherently silly to speak of China as a long term threat to American security. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 3, 2002 12:13 PM