From the Washington Post:
For the past few months I’ve been hearing from a bevy of China experts about how subtle and brilliant Beijing’s diplomacy has become in recent years. Sophisticated and confident, Chinese diplomats have been running rings around the United States, winning friends and influencing people throughout East Asia and the world. So I can only marvel at China’s latest diplomatic gambits, whose brilliance and sophistication must be so subtle as not to be susceptible to normal modes of analysis.
First, China’s leaders this week introduced a draft “Anti-Secession Law” in the People’s Congress that threatens military action against Taiwan. An official summary of the legislation declares that “in the event that the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan’s secession from China, or that major incidents entailing Taiwan’s secession from China should occur, or that possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, that [the] state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” This deliberately vague threat would seem to suggest that China might attack Taiwan in the event that (a) Taiwan declares independence, (b) seems to be about to declare independence, (c) seems to be thinking about possibly declaring independence some time in the future or (d) is not thinking about independence at all but merely refuses to be absorbed by China in a timely manner.
