The delicate dance continues...

From here:

Bush to China: Emulate Taiwan
Wednesday, November 16, 2005

KYOTO, Japan — Piquing China just days before meetings with its leaders, President Bush on Wednesday held up the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, as a model of freedom "at all levels" that the communist giant should emulate.

and

In remarks sure to irritate his Chinese hosts, Bush prodded the communist nation to grant basic freedoms to its 1.3 billion people and further open its economy.

"We encourage China to continue down the road of reform and openness," Bush told an audience that stayed silent until its polite applause at the end. "By meeting the legitimate demands of its citizens for freedom and openness, China's leaders can help their country grow into a modern, prosperous, and confident nation."

His challenge to Beijing immediately followed lavish praise of Taiwan.

"By embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity to its people and created a free and democratic Chinese society," Bush said. Pointing to Taiwan — as well as South Korea — Bush said political freedoms are the inevitable product of the kind of economic liberalization China has begun pursuing.

"Men and women who are allowed to control their own wealth will eventually insist on controlling their own lives and their own future," he said. "As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed."

But in the same story:

Comparing Taiwan and China, even indirectly, raises a major thorn in U.S.-China relations. China regards the island as its own and has threatened to invade if Taiwan declares formal independence.

While U.S. policy recognizes only one China — including Taiwan — and opposes Taiwanese independence, Washington also is Taiwan's largest arms benefactor and is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself if attacked.

I find the dance of diplomacy evident here by the Bush Administration to be absolutely fascinating, if not outright confounding.

(Filed under World Affairs)