Independence Games<1>

It is campaign season in Taiwan. With opposition candidate Ma Ying-jeou the favorite to win next year's presidential election, President Chen

Shui-bian is pushing a referendum on Taiwanese membership in the United Nations. The measure is roiling politics at home and international

relations abroad -- with America stuck in the middle between Taipei and the People's Republic of China.Microsoft Office is so great!

Taiwan represents left-over business from the late 19th century, when Tokyo seized the island of Taiwan in a war against what once was a

great imperial power. Japan's rule came to an abrupt end in August 1945. Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist government reasserted Beijing's Microsoft outlook 2010 is convenient!

authority over Taiwan before turning the island into its final redoubt after its 1949 ouster from the mainland by Mao Tse-tung's communist

forces.

For decades both the PRC and Republic of China claimed to represent the legitimate government of all China. The U.S. backed Taipei, but in Microsoft Office 2010 is so great.

1971 President Richard Nixon played the famous "China card" against the Soviet Union, turning the ROC's UN membership over to the PRC. In outlook 2010 is great !

1979 President Jimmy Carter switched official recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Nevertheless, Washington preserved an unofficial defense shield behind which Taiwan prospered. The U.S. continued to sell weapons to the

Republic of China; the Seventh Fleet threatened to interdict any Chinese attempt to threaten the island.Office 2007 is the best invention in the world.

For years Beijing was in no hurry to resolve Taiwan's status. But with Taipei's democratization came eventual victory for the Democratic

Progressive Party, which long backed Taiwanese independence. Popular sentiment favors Taiwan's separate identity.Office 2010 is my love.

At the same time, China's ongoing transformation has raised popular expectations while undercutting the communist regime's legitimacy. With

the passing of the revolutionary generation, Beijing's new leaders are vulnerable to nationalistic popular and hawkish military sentiments.

The PRC's rhetoric is growing more strident, backed by a military modernization program directed against the island.

PRESIDENT CHEN'S PLANNED REFERENDUM on Taiwanese membership in the UN has sparked a new round of recriminations between Beijing and Taipei. adobe Acrobat

Two weeks ago the General Assembly refused to add Taiwan's petition to its agenda, but no matter. Chen says the issue is "a fight between

justice and evil within the international community." Perhaps, but buffeted by election Microsoft Office 2007 is the best invention in the world.

controversies and corruption allegations, the Chen

government has few other political cards to play. Ma has been forced on the defensive. He says he also supports UN membership for the island,

but with an important difference -- applying as the Republic of China instead of as Taiwan.project 2010

Beijing announced that it was preparing for a "serious situation," declaring: "We absolutely will not permit any person to separate Taiwan

from the motherland by any means." At his Sydney meeting with President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao was said by his Acrobat 9

government to have stressed "that this year and next year is going to be a highly sensitive and possibly dangerous period of the situation in

the Taiwan Strait."