IN RECENT MONTHS, China has adopted a relatively conciliatory stance towards Taiwan. This was also reflected in President Jiang Zemin's opening address to the 16th party congress last Friday.
One example was his assertion that: 'There is only one China in the world. Both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China.'
This formulation was first used by Vice-Premier Qian Qichen earlier this year. The reassertion of this formula by Mr Jiang makes it clear this is now Beijing's official position. Beijing no longer claims that 'one China' means the People's Republic of China, of which Taiwan is an integral part.
Mr Jiang went on to say: 'China's sovereignty and territorial integrity brook no division. We firmly oppose all words and deeds aimed at creating 'Taiwan independence', 'two Chinas', or 'one China, one Taiwan'.'
As a statement of principle, this sounds very high minded. But it is unclear what it means in practice. After all, Hong Kong had been separated from China for over 150 years until 1997. And Macau had been separated from China for some 400 years. So China's sovereignty and territorial integrity were certainly divided for hundreds of years, and the People's Republic of China went along with this for most of its existence.
What Mr Jiang seemed to be saying, then, was that China will not tolerate any permanent separation of what it considers part of its territory.