321. China Brief, Taiwan's presidential countdown: what does it mean for the united states?
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Arnold Zeitlin, John Tkacik, and Jonathan Mirsky
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Could Taiwan's voters elect a pro-unification candidate in 2004? Can the challenger, Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan, put together an electoral consensus of ethnic mainlanders, Hakkas and ethnic Taiwanese investors in China that will begin the process of moving Taiwan into the embrace of the People's Republic of China? The polls indicate it could be a fifty-fifty proposition, especially if the campaign's focus is the economy—not national identity. Washington should begin to consider its substantial strategic stake in Taiwan, and rethink the message that its diplomats in Taipei are sending Taiwan's public.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel