On China-Taiwan relations

The atmosphere over the strait has been occasionally sharp. Chinese missiles have landed in the waters outside Taiwan, and there's been considerable noise in Beijing. The possibility of a serious military conflict cannot be excluded.

Most observers seem to agree that China is not capable of occupying Taiwan. Other methods can be just as serious. Boycotts are one alternative, bombings of singular targets another.

"One single missile would make Taiwan's rich move out their money and create economic damage and worry," Prof. Zhu Chenghu of China's defense university told DN's reporter Bengt Albons.

That the nationalist government moved to Taiwan 50 years ago is hardly anything to celebrate. Developments in the last year, however, are something to celebrate. Taiwan is today a democracy under constant pressure from the world's largest dictatorship. In that sense, China has had a painfully large meaning.

--Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden