Reunification on Taiwan's terms?

The talks between officials from China and Taiwan last week ought never to have been expected to produce very tangible results. But the six-day encounter was undoubtedly a political coup for Taiwan. Nothing could have shown the government in Taipei to better advantage than to have it projected in such direct contrast with the government in Beijing. Koo Cehn-fu, Taiwan's senior envoy, had only to insist that reunification is impossible until China reaches Taiwan's state of democratic development. Anything the Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen then said against Taiwan's preaching "Taiwan-style democracy" was bound to look bad.

In fact, Qian went a long way to accommodate Taiwan's legitimate interests, expressing a profound pragmatism unimaginable only a few years ago when Beijing railed against the "renegade province" in the most strident terms and denounced the Kuomintang "brigands" who ruled it.

Taiwan is now a democracy. It is not a perfect open society. But Taiwan is, to all intents and purposes, an independent nation. The independence of its 21 million people is strengthened by its democratic system. It will not be dictated to by the present oligarchy ruling China. There might well be reunification some time in the future, but it will not come by force such as China has been accustomed to threaten over the years.

And it is more likely to come when China embraces democracy -- that is, on Taiwan's terms.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald