Frank Ching on Hu and Taiwan

Well-known writer Frank Ching says Hu of China has a flexible policy on Taiwan independence:

This new stance was confirmed in January by State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan, who told a group of American scholars that China was "patient" where Taiwan was concerned.

Ching's article transmits an interesting Chinese take on its dances with the KMT and the mainlander parties in Taiwan:

Professor Xu Shiquan, vice- chairman of the National Society for Taiwan Studies, who is a leading authority on Taiwan, explained recently in Beijing that the visit by Yok Yu-ming, chairman of Taiwan's New Party, means that all three Opposition parties — the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, the People's First Party and the New Party — which together command a majority in the legislature, have been to Beijing and met with Hu.

In effect, Beijing has forged an alliance with the majority of elected representatives of the Taiwan people.

That's an interesting and effective propaganda line that Beijing will push if it is smart.

Taiwan