~1998

1999: Jan. - June, July - Dec.

2000: Jan. - Mar. , Apr. - June , July - Sept.

Jan. - March 2000

Clarity on Taiwan? By Thomas J. Christensen and Philip Yang
(March 2000) Following is a transcript of the email exchange between Prof. Thomas Christensen and Prof. Philip Yang regarding Prof. Christensen's OpEd "Clarity on Taiwan" in the Washington Post on March 20: …there are two major problems with a policy of clarity on the Taiwan issue. First, the burden of proof of the definition of Taiwan independence will fall on the U.S. side. Such a situation might introduce another major element of ambiguity and uncertainty into the cross-strait situation.

Asian Wall Street Journal: US sold out Taiwan
(Taiwan Headlines, March 30, 2000) In a March 29 editorial, the Asian Wall Street Journal contended that there is little cause for blind optimism in the current state of cross-strait affairs, even though American officials have described ROC president-elect Chen Shui-bian's behavior as "prudent" and "positive," and the provocative saber-rattling of the PRC appears to have subsided.

When a Giant Falls By Julian Baum with Dan Biers
(Far Eastern Economic Review, April 6, 2000) The prospects for the Kuomintang have never looked worse. Since Taiwan's ruling party slumped to defeat in the March 18 presidential election, the office of prominent KMTmember Wei Yung has been inundated with faxes and e-mail messages from supporters around the world.

Taiwan’s China Dare
(Economist, March 25-31, 2000) This was meant to be the Pacific century, yet how suddenly the language of commerce in the world’s fastest-growing region can give way to talk of war. Taiwan’s election, which has ended 50 years of Nationalist rule and picked as the island’s next president Chen Shui-bian, the candidate of a hitherto pro-independence party, is a clear rebuff to China’s Communists, who claim Taiwan as their own.

Taiwan Stands Up
(Economist, March 25 - 31, 2000) After his victory in the presidential election, Chen Shui-bian is offering an olive branch across the Taiwan Strait. China doesn’t know how to accept it. Tactically outmanoeuvred already by Mr Chen, the Communists in Beijing will probably sit tight and wait for what he lays on the table after his inauguration, the better to test his “sincerity”.

The Meaning of 'One China' By Bates Gill
(Washington Times, March 23, 2000) To be sure, the "one China" principle has had to expand to account for Taipei's desire for international "space" and the government's claims of sovereignty over the island, particularly over the past 10 years.

Nervous in Beijing By Jim Hoagland
(Washington Post, March 23, 2000) After last weekend, the truth about China is hidden in plain sight: Jiang Zemin and his cohorts now run only slightly ahead of the tides of change that will make their Communist rule history.

Amid the Dangers: Opportunity By Michel Oksenberg
(Newsweek International, March 27, 2000) Chen has political capital to spend. His unassailable commitment to Taiwan's autonomy may give him greater political flexibility to expand economic, cultural and technological relations. As that process unfolds, it may be possible to reach compromises on sensitive political issues.

Clarity on Taiwan By Thomas J. Christensen
(Washington Post, March 20, 2000) The problem with the ambiguity strategy is not its logic or its track record but its recent failure to prevent a spiral of tensions across the Taiwan Strait and its fragility in American domestic politics.

2025 Vision: A China Bent On Asian Dominance
(Washington Post, March 17, 2000) Imagine a booming China of 1.5 billion people that has intimidated Taiwan into effective submission, persuaded Korea and Japan to close the U.S. bases on their territory, and made a deal with New Delhi to divide Asia into spheres of Chinese and Indian influence at America's expense. What sort of China is that?

Making the Best of a Tough Job By Stephen J. Yates
(Taipei Times, March 16, 2000) Taiwan's most competitive and tumultuous presidential election fast approaches. Finally there will be a poll with no margin of error, and for the first time in history Taiwan will have a president-elect awaiting peaceful transfer of power from a sitting president.

Crisis in the Making? Experts Differ on Whether Rising Tensions Will Lead to a U.S.-China Clash
(Washington Post, March 16, 2000) When Taiwan held its first democratic presidential election four years ago, China fired ballistic missiles over the island 100 miles from its coast. The United States responded with its biggest show of force in Asia since the Vietnam War, sending two aircraft carriers and 14 other warships to Taiwan.

What the Election Signifies for Democracy By Larry Diamond
(Taipei Times, March 15, 2000) In the days leading up to Taiwan's second direct presidential election, political reform is taking the spotlight away from cross-strait concerns, according to a US observer.

Handling China
(Editorial, Washington Post, March 14, 2000) United States needs to stand behind Taiwan. Last month China threatened to bring about "reunification" by force if the Taiwanese dragged their feet about negotiating it; then, when it looked as though some in Congress might respond by opposing PNTR, the Chinese repeated their stock line that trade and Taiwan relations should be treated separately.

What Is Beijing 's 'Policy Paper' Trying to Convey? By James A. Kelly
(International Herald Tribune, March 13, 2000) Relations between China and the United States are on a downslope again, after improving over the last six months.

How China Will Take Taiwan By Robert Kagan
(Washington Post, March 12, 2000) In fact, a major conflict is looming. China's White Paper on Taiwan signaled a new phase of impatience in Beijing, and it wasn't the only sign. President Jiang Zemin has declared in recent months that he intends to make reunification of the motherland his legacy..

'One-China' and International Law By Hungdah Chi
(United Daily News, March 1, 2000) The White Paper's statement that the Chinese Communists founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 is true. However, it is noteworthy that Beijing used the word "founded" here.

Taiwan Displays Its Feeble Fleet By John Pomfret
(Washington Post, Feb. 25, 2000) As China threatens to attack Taiwan if it does not begin reunification talks soon, a visit to Taiwan's main naval base at Tsoying, just north of the big port of Kaohsiung on the island's southwest coast, provides an important perspective on the standoff between Taipei and Beijing.

'Blue Team' Draws a Hard Line on Beijing By Robert G. Kaiser and Steven Mufson
(Washington Post, Feb. 22, 2000) "Blue Team"--a loose alliance of members of Congress, congressional staff, think tank fellows, Republican political operatives, conservative journalists, lobbyists for Taiwan, former intelligence officers and a handful of academics, all united in the view that a rising China poses great risks to America's vital interests. Though little noticed, the Blue Team has had considerable success.

China's Conditional Multilaterialism and Great Power Entente By Jing-dong Yuan
(Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, January 2000) China now recognizes that multilateral engagement is unavoidable and indeed can be useful in advancing China's interests. China's embrace of multilateralism, however, varies depending upon the particular forum and specific issue.

Patterns in China's Use of Force: Evidence from History and Doctrinal Writings By Mark Burles and Abram Shulsky
(RAND, Project Air Force, MR-1160-AF, 2000 ) The Chinese appear to believe that they possess tactics and methods that make it feasible for them to use force even when the overall military balance is very unfavorable to them, i.e., in situations in which their use of force might otherwise have been thought to be very unlikely.

China Internet: Shot in the Foot? - Maybe
(Asia Times, Jan. 27, 2000) ''Mainland clamps down on Net'', ''Beijing Tightens Its Grip On Use of Internet in China'', were two of the headlines on stories in the regional press of the past couple of days reporting on new rules and regulations governing Internet companies operating in China and Internet users.

Status Quo Approach to Taiwan Needs Review By Hisahiko Okazaki
(Daily Yomiuri, January 24, 2000) "Maintaining the status quo" seems to be the latest catchphrase in discussions concerning Taiwan. If one asks those who call themselves realist-either in China, Taiwan or the United State-what they most want to see in Taiwan's international relations, this phrase will be on most of their lips.

Village Democracy By Susan V. Lawrence
(Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan. 27, 2000) Direct elections are becoming more open in the Chinese countryside, but will those reforms extend to higher levels of government? The Communist Party has traditionally resisted answering to any body other than itself.

Taiwan Planned Counterattack During 1996 Crisis
(Liberty Times, Jan. 19, 2000) In a new book, former Beijing correspondent for the New York Times Patrick Tyler writes that the ROC was prepared to mount a counteroffensive against the PRC in 1996, when the PRC was test-firing missiles into the waters near Taiwan.

Tighter Controls, Less in Control By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
(South China Morning Post, Jan. 12, 2000) In China, control is the name of the game. From 1949 onwards, the Chinese Communist Party claimed virtually absolute control via indoctrination and "tools of the proletariat" such as the army and the security apparatus.

Dealing With the China-Taiwan Puzzle By Larry Wortzel
(Washington Times, Jan. 11, 2000) As the guarantor of regional security in Asia, the United States should be paying closer attention to the military buildup and strident anti-Taiwan rhetoric of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

US Commitment to People, Not Politician
(United Daily News, Jan. 11, 2000) United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Stanley Roth recently stated publicly that no matter who wins the upcoming presidential election in Taiwan, Washington would accept the results.

Foreign Policy Promise and Problems By Richard N. Haass
(IntellectualCapital.com, Jan. 6, 2000) What developments will dominate the international agenda over the next 12 months? And what will it mean for the United States and American foreign policy? Such questions are easier to pose than answer.

Human Rights in Taiwan: Is the Battle Won? By Brian Kennedy
(Taipei Times, Jan. 4, 2000) The Taiwanese public has become quite blase towards the issue of human rights. The public consensus is that the "bad old days" of martial law and all that it brought are over. In reality, the state of human rights and civil liberties here in Taiwan is not good. What civil liberties we have rest on very weak foundations.

Parting With Party Business?
(China Post (Taipei), Jan. 4, 2000) Kuomintang presidential candidate Lien Chan said on Sunday that if he wins the March election, he will end the KMT's profit-making businesses which dominate the nation's economy.

Party? What Party? We're Going Shopping By Elisabeth Rosenthal
(New York Times, Jan. 1, 2000) President Jiang Zemin spoke here of China's glorious future and a few adventurous souls ventured to the Great Wall, but most Beijingers spent the ticking over of the calendar doing what average folks here do when given half a chance: they went shopping.

Pacific Forum, CSIS

China-Taiwan: Wait and See By Ralph A. Cossa
(Pacific Forum CSIS, PacNet 13, March 31, 2000) Now what? Now that Taiwan has elected Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as its next President, despite heavy-handed Chinese efforts to discourage such an outcome, what does Beijing do next?

China Waits While Taiwan Acts By Ralph A. Cossa
(Taipei Times, March 29, 2000) China has not made the cross-strait situation any easier by its pre-election outbursts, but now that Chen is firmly in place, it seems they are ready to talk, just as long as a few comforting fictions are kept in place by the incoming administration.

Dangerous Misconceptions About Taiwan By Robert M. Hathaway
(Pacific Forum, CSIS, PacNet 8, February 25, 2000) I have just returned from a visit to Taiwan, where I talked with a broad range of politicians, officials, academics, and policy analysts.

U.S. Policy in Northeast Asia: On the Right Track? By Ralph A. Cossa
(Pacific Forum, CSIS, PacNet 4, Jan. 28, 2000) As we enter the Year of the Dragon, U.S. bilateral relations with key states in Northeast Asia generally appear on track.

New York Times

One-China Fallacy By June Teufel Dreyer
(New York Times, March 27, 2000) The "one China" concept was false from the instant Henry A. Kissinger seized upon it as a convenient ruse. The cost of this Faustian bargain is becoming apparent. China threatens to use force to annex Taiwan, asserting that the United States, having accepted the one-China principle, has no right to interfere in its internal affairs.

China Is All Bluster on Taiwan (for Now) By David Shambaugh
(New York Times, March 6, 2000) The furor over China's threat to use force against Taiwan if negotiations toward reunification are indefinitely delayed has put the Clinton administration in a diplomatic jam.

China's Latest Theft By Tong Yi
(New York Times, Feb. 16, 2000) Reports that the Chinese government intercepted $25,000 in foreign donations intended for the families of those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests may have shocked some, but not me.

China Arrests a Scholar
(Editorial, New York Times, Jan. 18, 2000) In a country where freedom of information is not respected, possession of any kind of information can be prosecuted by the government. China has demonstrated this by arresting Yongyi Song in Beijing.

Taipei Times

China's Local Elections Contrast with Taiwan's By James A Robinson
(Taipei Times, Feb. 1, 2000) The Communist Party is experimenting with election of local officials in the same way the KMT did during embryonic stages of Taiwan's democracy.

Clinton's final State of the Union By Stephen J. Yates
(Taipei Times, Jan. 24, 2000) Under Clinton's leadership, US relations with China have been on a dizzying zig-zag course from treating China's leaders as "dictators" and "butchers" to envisioning them as "constructive strategic partners."

Global Trends Help Shape Cross-Strait Relations By Hsiao Bi-khim
(Taipei Times, Jan. 12, 2000) The international environment in this new century will be dominated by a number of structural contradictions that will create a new set of challenges. The end of the cold war has not necessarily brought about sustainable peace, and it is essential for Taiwan to seek a balance within the context of these contradictions if it is to survive. In practical terms, Taiwan should pursue the following directions in cross-strait relations: 1) Seizing the benefits of globalization; 2) Avoiding the pitfalls of nationalism; 3) Cautiously maneuver in the US-China balance of power.

LA Times

Realism Tempers the One-China Principle By Tom Plate
(LA Times, March 29, 2000) Since the big stir of the Taiwan election earlier this month, the East Asian front is actually a bit quieter. Neither Beijing nor Taiwan appears ready to precipitate World War III -- not yet, anyway.

Democracy Upsets One-China Policy By Robert A. Manning
(LA Times, March 26, 2000) At first glance, the stunning election of Taiwan opposition leader Chen Shui-bian, overturning five decades of rule by the Kuomintang, appears to be a political earthquake that could result in a military conflict with mainland China.

The Historical Basis for a Free Taiwan By Maurice Meisner
(LA Times, March 26, 2000) It might have been expected that the disintegration of the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, against whom the Communists had fought a long and bloody civil war that ended with Chiang's flight to Taiwan in 1949, would have brought rejoicing in Beijing.

Taiwan Has Anti-Corruption Fever By Tom Plate
(LA Times, March 22, 2000) In country after country that has benefited from new wealth, a rising, assertive middle class inevitably demands political reforms. This was as true in South Korea in 1997, when voters chose long-time anti-establishment figure Kim Dae Jung as president over the establishment's candidate, as it was in Taiwan this past weekend, when the longtime anti-establishment figure Chen Shui-bian prevailed.

Interveiw: Joseph Prueher By Henry Chu
(LA Times, May 15, 2000) Q: What is the proper U.S. role in China-Taiwan relations? A: Sen. [Jesse] Helms [R-N.C.], in my confirmation hearings, made a statement that I use a lot, because it's plain language: "You go tell the leadership in China that we in the U.S. like and want to get along with the Chinese people--we just don't want Taiwan to get kicked around.". . . In my view, that's engagement. .

Inauspicious Signs for Kuomintang By Jim Mann
(LA Times, Jan. 26, 2000) One of the first big developments of 2000 could well be an epochal change in Chinese politics: the downfall of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party. On March 18, Taiwan will hold presidential elections. And as things stand now, the KMT--despite the abundant resources it commands as one of the world's richest political parties--seems headed for a historic defeat.

A Goldilocks Policy for China By Tom Plate
(LA Times, Jan. 26, 2000) With Taiwan and the U.S. both electing presidents this year, Washington must steer a 'just right' course with Beijing. America needs a sense of balance about China. So here's an idea. Just as the U.S. economy has been called a "Goldilocks" economy -- not so overheated as to generate inflation, not so cool as to sink into recession -- America needs something like a Goldilocks Policy for relating to China: neither too chummy nor too aloof but just right.

Close Isn't Good Enough
(Editorial, LA Times, Jan. 20, 2000) The Pentagon blames a pair of malfunctioning sensors for Tuesday's failure of a $100-million test of a missile interceptor system that it hopes can defend the country against intercontinental attack from rogue states.

China Snarls Again at 'Paper Tiger' By Jim Mann
(LA Times, Jan. 19, 2000) In China's eyes, America looks like a "paper tiger" once again. Paper tiger was the pithy phrase coined by Mao Tse-tung to convey the notion that American military power was overestimated. In the decades since the end of the Vietnam War and Mao's rapprochement with the United States, the phrase fell out of use.

Another 'American Century'? The Challenge Is to Do Good By William Pfaff
(International Herald Tribute, Jan. 3, 2000) In the current issue of The National Interest, a Washington quarterly, Walter Russell Mead describes the U.S. policy debate as one argued among Jeffersonians, Jacksonians, Wilsonians and Hamiltonians.