Excellent Piece on China/Taiwan Relations

NY Times: “Message From President of Taiwan Awakens Hopes of a Thaw With China,” by Keith Bradsher, May 1, 2005.

It’s not always easy to understand the complex relationship between the economically capitalist yet politically Communist leadership of China with the warring camps in Taiwan –

currently ruled by a pro-independence, Taiwan-oriented party, with the Nationalists who came over from the mainland after the Chinese revolution of 1949 in opposition.

But this excellent piece by Keith Bradsher does just what analytical journalism SHOULD do: use a current situation to make clear deeper relationships among the parties involved (bold emphasis mine):

A decision by President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan to send a secret message to China’s leaders, the most direct contact between the two sides since his election five years ago, is awakening new hopes here of a possible thaw in relations across the Taiwan Strait.

President Chen said this morning that he had spoken by phone on Saturday night with James Soong, the chairman of the small People First Party, and had asked him to convey a message to Beijing. Mr. Soong is scheduled to fly to the mainland on Thursday for a weeklong trip, and is to be in Beijing from May 10 to May 12. …

Mr. Chen has been put on the defensive by the surprising popularity here of a meeting on Friday in Beijing between President Hu Jintao of China and Lien Chan, the chairman of the opposition Nationalist Party. The Nationalists ran Taiwan from the end of China’s civil war in 1949 until 2000, when Mr. Chen defeated Mr. Lien in presidential elections; Mr. Chen beat him again in a rematch last spring.

President Chen’s overture to China has attracted considerable attention and speculation because he and his governing Democratic Progressive Party have risen to power by repeatedly confronting China. They have played to a large segment of the island’s population that no longer sees the island’s political future as lying with the mainland.

China has long threatened to use force to stop an actual declaration of independence. …

Mr. Soong, a longtime Nationalist, broke with his party and ran as an independent in 2000, splitting the Nationalist vote with Mr. Lien and unintentionally helping to bring Mr. Chen to power. Mr. Soong has since set up the People First Party, which, even more than the Nationalists, favors an eventual reunification of Taiwan with China.

The Nationalists did unexpectedly well in legislative elections last December. This prompted Mr. Soong and Mr. Chen to form a political alliance on Feb. 24 despite their holding almost diametrically opposed views on relations with China.

While this doesn’t unravel every mystery in the China / Taiwan relationship, it does help make sense of the potentially explosive dynamics of that convoluted situation.