I can’t talk right nowIT WAS only six months ago that China and Taiwan achieved a symbolic breakthrough in their decades-long standoff: the two countries’ presidents met for the first time since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, both looking chuffed that they had finally broken the ice. Now it is back to normal. On June 25th China shut down a channel for communication between the two sides because of the refusal of Taiwan’s new president, Tsai Ing-wen, to accept that there is but “one China”, and that Taiwan is a part of it. A new chill is descending over the Taiwan Strait.
When the news broke, Ms Tsai (pictured) was embarking on her first foreign tour since she took office in May—to Panama and Paraguay, among the very few countries that recognise Taiwan’s government, bracketed by transit stops in America. She would not have been surprised. During his meeting with her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, China’s president Xi Jinping had said his government was willing to have contact with any political party in Taiwan, as long as it accepted a “consensus” that was reached between the two sides in 1992 on...Continue reading
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