TRADE YOU TWO BEARS FOR YOUR PATRIOTISM:

Mr. Chen back on the offensive (Japan Times, 1/13/06)

Hopes that Taiwan's president, Mr. Chen Shui-bian, might alter course and reach out to China were shattered last week. Mr. Chen's New Year address made plain that he remains as combative as ever, despite having lost the upper hand in cross-strait relations with Beijing in 2005. The president's determination will gratify the faithful in his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but it is likely to dismay many other Taiwanese, as well as Taiwan's friends throughout the world. [...]

The opposition was aided by Beijing's energetic efforts to reach out to it while marginalizing the president. Mr. Lien Chen and Mr. James Soong, heads of the Nationalist KMT and the People's First Party, respectively, visited the mainland during 2005 and were greeted effusively by the Chinese Communist Party leadership, including Chinese President Hu Jintao. (The two men visited as heads of their parties.)

The mainland's enthusiasm for their visits and the "gifts" provided by the CCP leadership, such as the elimination of tariffs on some agricultural imports and the promise of two pandas, helped alter China's image among Taiwanese. Most significantly, the visits signaled that Taiwan's opposition might manage relations better with the mainland -- precisely the message the Chinese wanted to send.