From The International Herald Tribune, via A Glimpse of the World:
Something rare happened in recent weeks with the unprecedented back-to-back visits to China of two of Taiwan’s most prominent opposition politicians.
Suddenly China, which has often shown all the subtlety of a jackhammer operator in its approach toward Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, is serving up a dish sprinkled with carrots.
With an unrelenting focus on shared history and culture, from tributes to Sun Yat-sen, the father of Chinese republicanism and the sole political ancestor claimed by elites in both countries, visits by James Soong and Lien Chan to their ancestral homelands, exchanges of calligraphy and other appeals to common roots, Beijing was smartly upping its game.
