From the Boston Globe, an editorial about China’s passage of the anti-secession law:
China’s Communist leaders sketched an unflattering self-portrait last week when their make-believe Parliament passed an anti–secession law authorizing Beijing to use “nonpeaceful means and other necessary measures” to thwart the slightest move toward independence on Taiwan. The regime’s latest attempt to intimidate Taiwan gives it the aura of an awkward bully who misunderstands the psychology of the party to be bullied, miscalculates the reaction of interested onlookers, and lacks any knack for proper timing.