Washington Post of Taiwan - China
Posted here Thursday, December 04, 2003 at 11:25:36 AM 
On China and Taiwan, a major one to watch. It is dangerous, and it will reveal some of the hidden structures of alliances. My own view is that if taiwan waits, decentralization in China is a real possibility, in which case taiwan would look far less threatening. In the meanwhile we can expect a complex game of chess, but sometimes tides swamp the sandcastles.
BEIJING, Dec. 3 -- China's military warned Taiwan that any decision to attack the island of 23 million would not be affected by concerns about China's economic development or that it might prompt a boycott of the 2008 Olympics
A leading Chinese military strategist, writing in an influential magazine distributed here Wednesday, said also that China was not concerned that foreign investment might drop or that its development would be set back several years, its soldiers might die, its relations with third countries be affected or that people and property in the Asia-Pacific region would be damaged by a war. The Taiwan authorities say that because of the Olympics, we won't make a move," Maj. Gen. Peng Guangqian wrote in Outlook Weekly, published by the official New China News Agency. "But if you compare the Olympics and the sovereignty of our country's territory, sovereign territory will always take precedence. . . . The price for reunification will be paid if necessary. We're prepared, and we can pay it."
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