Macao's return to China:

Macao, which has been a Portuguese enclave for nearly four and a half centuries, will be returned to China on Dec. 20. With the handover, there will be no more colonies in Asia. The era of Asian colonization by West European nations will become a thing of the past.

China, which will take Macao back following Hong Kong, now seems to be focusing on Taiwan as its next target and is reinforcing its strategies toward unification.

The 'one nation, two systems' policy proposed by the late Deng Xiaoping was originally a measure to realize the peaceful unification of China and Taiwan.

Nevertheless, we should not overlook the fact that a great majority of Taiwan residents do not want unification through that policy, at least for now. They may not rule out unification with China in the future, but they support the maintenance of the status quo, under which Taiwan enjoys de fact independence.

It is the international community's common understanding that China's dispute with Taiwan should be resolved peacefully. It is important for both China and Taiwan to exercise wisdom from long- term viewpoints in dealing with the issue.

--Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo,