Now that an Obama administration is, thankfully, a reality -- the world is now trying to get an early jump on trying to influence policy. The other day, a China foreign ministry spokesman issued a message about Taiwan (a country close to my heart, since my wife is Taiwanese and I lived there for 5+ years.
In the message directed to the Obama team they
...urged America's new president-elect, Barack Obama, to oppose independence for [already de-facto independent] Taiwan.
Furthermore, ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists in Beijing
We urge the United States to honour its commitment... honour the one-China policy and stop selling weapons to Taiwan
So far, the Obama team has not revealed any specifics as to what their policy is towards the democratic country of Taiwan -- except that it is their intention to follow the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.
This comes on the heels of an historic 5-minute meeting between Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou and China high-ranking official, Chen Yulin -- where trade agreements and direct cross-straights air travel agreements were made. During this 5 day visit by the Chinese official, massive protests broke out across Taiwan.
As you can see, these protests were met with a massive police presence. The martial law style tactics used by the police in Taiwan involved incidents where businesses were shut-down due to playing pro-Taiwan music and Taiwan flags ripped out of people's hands so as not to offend the visiting entourage from China.
Due to this over-reaction from police, stemming from the pro-China government currently in Taiwan, university students across the country have now setup protest camps. They demand that President Ma Ying-jeou apologize for the anti-democratic incidents that have taken place during the China officials' visit. They are also demanding that high-ranking police officials resign. Most importantly, they are asking for an old draconian law from the past be reformed with respect to peaceful protests.
Here is a LIVE broadcast of a current student protest camp in Taipei. (NOTE: very interesting use of new internet broadcast technology!!)
The overwhelming majority of Taiwanese do not wish to unify with China. The overwhelming majority of Taiwanese wish to maintain the status-quo. And to maintain this status-quo, the Taiwanese military must be able to defend itself against an attack. Currently, there are over 1400 missiles pointed at this country.
That is why the U.S. government is selling more than $6 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan -- in the spirit of the Taiwan Relations Act. These are purely defensive measures.
Alas, with President-elect Obama's message of hope to the world -- it is the "HOPE" of the people of the democratic country of Taiwan that this new administration will recognize the importance of a continuance of a free and democratic Taiwan. A Taiwan that respects human rights and aspouses to the progressive ideals of this site.
If you visit the LIVE blog that I linked to above, you will often hear these students chant,
"HOPING! HOPING!"
That means, "Peace". And that is ultimately what the goal is.