China's apparently not too enthused
about the President of Taiwan's pro-independence position. So much so
that they're threatening to put everything they've worked so hard for
aside to threaten the Taiwanese.
May 19 (Bloomberg) -- China stepped up threats of attack
against Taiwan a day before President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration,
saying it would be willing to forfeit strong U.S. ties, economic growth
and the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to quash independence
moves by force. ``The mainland is ready to afford a slowdown in its
modernization bid, a reversion in Sino-U.S. ties and the boycott of the
Olympic Games,'' government-owned China Daily quoted Xu Bodong,
director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing United
University, as saying. Chen, 53, an advocate of Taiwan independence,
takes the oath of office for a second term at noon tomorrow in Taipei.
China is trying to pressure him to soften his anti-China stance in his
inaugural speech, China Daily said. ``It could be just a matter of them
making it crystal clear how they feel,'' said Michael DeGolyer,
international studies professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. This
week's attacks on Taiwan may be ``rhetorical overshoot,'' he said.