Thread: How about an economic war between Taiwan and the mainland, Ma?

Taiwan held live-fire military exercises on June 7 testing imported and domestically made fighter jets and tank-to-tank missiles.

"We don’t seek war, but we’re not afraid of war,” Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said at Mount Paoli, one of Taiwan’s largest military training grounds, where about 1,000 soldiers played through an elaborate scenario with the help of aircraft, tanks and warships.

Even the US, with eleven aircraft carriers, seems to be so afraid of its so-called "China threat" that it starts shifting its focus to the Asia-Pacific. Hence, how can the small island hope to achieve military parity with the giant mainland?

Anyway I don't see any good for China to wage a war with the island. There is a better way for China to deal with the island.

Ma could have put up a bolder front if he said that "we’re not afraid of economic war". Even some highly industrialized European countries such as Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece could find themselves in economic trouble, it would be quite unlikely for a small isolated island like Taiwan to survive an economic war with the mainland.

The KMT is wrongly depicted as "pro-China" or "pro-unification" by the media. Thus, whatever it does with China is viewed with suspicion. In my opinion, it will be better for cross-strait relations in the long run if the DPP could rule Taiwan all the while. Taking an analogy, any quest for independence is akin to a fish trying frantically to break out of a small aquarium. In the end, the fish would realise that its action is futile and it is better to be contented to stay where it is.

Taiwan stages live-fire military drill
http://main.omanobserver.om/node/98175

China actin' like dat 800lb. gorilla...

China plays by its own rules
Sat, Jul 14, 2012 - If China were an elementary-school student, its report card would read: “Does not play well with others; often tries to bully smaller children.”

Beijing does not like to play in a group where it cannot dictate the rules or the results. That seems to be the message from this week’s ASEAN+ meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where China once again rebuffed calls from the Philippines, Vietnam and others to agree to talks on operating in disputed areas of the South China Sea. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Beijing would discuss a code of conduct in the South China Sea — that would be legally binding and comply with the UN’s Law of the Sea treaty — “when conditions are ripe,” which, reading between the lines, means when pigs can fly.

Beijing prefers one-on-one negotiations with its smaller neighbors where it can throw its weight around in the form of trade and political pressure. It does not want to have to face a united front of other countries, including Taiwan, that claim, either wholly or in part, islands, reefs and waters in the South China Sea. The nationalistic slant is that China was once the victim of unequal treaties with Western powers and Japan and it will not allow itself to be put in that position again.

The problem is that the longer Beijing maintains that position, the less reason there is for the others to agree to wait and not try to work out something for themselves, particularly as China continues to demonstrate its reluctance to be governed by the rule of law when it comes to commercial disputes, whether on the private or national level. Taiwanese companies and businesspeople have learned this the hard way, with Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store Co the latest to downsize its investment in a joint venture in China in a bid to end years of disputes with its Chinese partner that saw the general manager of its Beijing operations detained by Chinese security a few years ago.

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Hillary tryin' to enlist Russia's help...

Wary US looks to calm rising tensions in Asia
8 Sept.`12 — Alarmed by a rise in nationalist sentiment around the Asia-Pacific, the Obama administration is looking for Russia to play a greater role in the region as it seeks to quell growing maritime tensions.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was to meet on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at meeting of Pacific Rim leaders to gauge Moscow's intentions as it looks increasingly eastward after decades of European orientation. U.S. officials say they would welcome a more active Russian role in the Asia-Pacific where territorial disputes, including between U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, sparked by nationalist rhetoric have fueled fears of conflict. A senior U.S. official traveling with Clinton said Russia's engagement in the region has until now been "episodic," not very active and primarily focused on the six-nation effort to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.

Now, with Putin actively promoting Russian greater economic and strategic ties with Asia and hosting the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in much spruced up Vladivostok, Clinton is eager to hear what his "goals and ambitions" are and how they might complement U.S. efforts, particularly in easing strains that could interfere with oceangoing commerce in the Pacific, the official said. The official said the United States wanted to see more "sustained" Russian interest in the Asia-Pacific. Clinton began Saturday by signing an agreement with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that will enhance U.S.-Russia scientific cooperation in the Antarctic, as well as link national parks on either side of the Bering Strait.

With Lavrov, she also stressed the importance of dealing with the ongoing crisis in Syria, where Russia, along with China, has blocked U.N. action that would penalize the Syrian regime for refusing to allow a political transition, a second U.S. official said. The pair also discussed efforts to get Iran to comply with international demands to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, North Korea and boosting trade between the U.S. and Russia, the official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks. Clinton, who is filling in for President Barack Obama at the summit, has spent the last week in the Asia-Pacific urging peaceful resolutions to competing territorial claims between China and its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea. The U.S. wants to see the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China establish quickly a code of conduct for the area to be followed by a mechanism to resolve the conflicts peacefully without intimidation, coercion or clashes.

At the same time, tensions have flared between Japan and South Korea over claims to Dokdu Island and Clinton will see the leaders of both in Vladivostok to express U.S. concerns about their dispute over Dokdu Island and "remind both countries of the importance we place on their determination to work well together," the official said. "We have been concerned by tensions of late between Tokyo and Seoul." "We've underscored that a positive relationship between Japan and South Korea is in the strategic best interests of the United States, and we'll continue to do so," the official said. The importance of creating a code of conduct for the South China Sea and ultimately settling sovereignty issues there were topics of discussion between Clinton and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, officials said.

http://news.yahoo.com/wary-us-looks-...011143067.html

Nationalism on the rise in Asia...

Nationalism stokes island disputes around Asia
September 6, 2012 — They are mere specks on the map. Many are uninhabited, and others sparsely so by fishermen and seasonal residents. Yet the disputed ownership of these tiny constellations of islands is inflaming nationalist fervor from the cold North Pacific to the tropical South China Sea.

In recent weeks, these long-simmering tensions have returned to a boil, with violent protests in Chinese cities, a provocative island junket by South Korea's lame-duck president, and Japan's government reportedly planning to buy disputed islands from their private owners. The popular analysis is that the rising tensions are fueled by a regional power shift that has seen China become increasingly assertive with its neighbors in securing claims over potentially resource-rich waters to its south and east. But the growing acrimony may have at least as much to do with domestic political posturing. "Wrapping yourself up in the national flag gives a very convenient exit for people with other agendas to justify their positions," says political scientist Koichi Nakano of Tokyo's Sophia University.

Nationalism has often been used by China's communist leaders to cover up domestic problems — such as the economic slowdown the country is now facing, not to mention problems with a growing rich-poor divide and official corruption. The same could be said, to an extent, in Japan and South Korea, where some politicians seem to be using the island disputes to further their agenda ahead of elections or to divert attention from thornier topics. Few believe the diverse Asian actors in this rapidly developing drama will actually come to blows, but manipulation of popular opinion in island disputants like China, South Korea and the Philippines is raising the chances of violence by either accident or miscalculation. Such an outcome would seriously threaten the fragile tranquility that has helped catapult tens of millions of Asians from poverty to prosperity.

The disputed islands were on the agenda this week as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled across the region. Meeting Monday with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, she urged members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations to present a united front to China in dealing with territorial disputes in the South China Sea. She also discussed the issue with Chinese leaders during meetings in Beijing this week.

Preferred access to potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves and rich fishing grounds is helping to drive the disputes, along with an increasingly prosperous and militarily strong China that is beginning to challenge America's historic supremacy as a Pacific power. "There is a big power shift in this region and that is encouraging the parties involved to make their case in order not to lose their ground," said security specialist Narushige Michi(*)(*)(*)(*)a of Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies. But the nationalist card is also front and center as governments jockey for position. "Nationalism is playing a very large role in all of these disputes," said international relations specialist George Tsai of Taipei's Chinese Culture University. "Whether it's China, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines or Korea, all these countries are appealing to nationalist sentiments."

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