Chen warms up the Chinese motherland

摘要

China's Politburo will probably sit down and watch a little television on May 20th. From the other side of the Taiwan Strait, they will see Chen Shui-bian inaugurated as the island's president in the first peaceful transfer of power in China's history. Yet the mainland's rulers have made it plain that the peace may not last. Stories have already been planted in the Hong Kong press of military exercises designed to discomfit the Taiwanese. China's leaders have warned Mr Chen that, if he so much as hints at declaring independence, then "disaster" awaits Taiwan. His inaugural speech, the Chinese demand, must reaffirm the "one China" principle the Communists hold so dear and lay out how Taiwan is to re-turn to the motherland.