Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
could not understand why Taiwan rejected Deng Xiaoping's “one
country, two systems” approach for China, which seemed to them to
be working nicely enough for Hong Kong.
The previous blustering from the mainland had consistently empha-
sized that Taiwan would be invaded if one of two situations devel-
oped: a formal declaration of independence or foreign invasion of the
island. In February 2000 a third condition was added: indefinite post-
ponement of unification. Taiwan loomed very large in Jiang Zemin's
thinking about his historical legacy. Mao and Deng both made great
contributions to China: Mao had liberated China from Chiang
Kai-shek and foreign imperialists, and Deng had stopped Mao's ruin-
ous mass movements and brought relative prosperity by opening
China to trade and contact with the outside world. Jiang was the third
major leader of the People's Republic of China; what would his histori-
cal contributions be? Jiang noted with satisfaction that the return of
Hong Kong in mid-1997 and Macao in late 1999 had both occurred
during his rule. The reunification of China would be his legacy, along
with the continuation of Deng Xiaoping's policies. Only Taiwan
remained beyond Beijing's grasp, and Jiang longed to bring the island
back to the motherland during his rule. Taiwan's continued resistance
to Beijing's overtures was a source of frustration and vexation for Jiang
Zemin and China's other Communist leaders as the year 2000 dawned
in China and around the world.
THE PRESIDENCY OF CHEN SHUI-BIAN
As president, Chen Shui-bian grew increasingly open about his wish
for Taiwan to formalize its de facto independence, but in this he was
opposed by the Kuomintang majority in the island's legislature, and
he and his vice president, Annette Lu, were demonized by the Chinese
Communists and their media on the mainland. Chen and Lu ran for
reelection in 2004 against the Kuomintang's Lien Chan and James
Soong, narrowly winning the vote. Up until the last few days of the
campaign it appeared that Lien and Soong would win the presidency
handily, but on March 19, 2004, there occurred a bizarre shooting inci-
dent that likely tipped the scales in the favor of Chen and Lu. On that
day in the city of Tainan, the president and vice president were travel-
inginanopenJeepvehiclewhenbothweregrazedbybullets.Their
injuries proved only superficial, and they were both released from
hospital the same day. Whether or not this was a staged incident
(kurouji) engineered to elicit sympathy votes for Chen and Lu is still a
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