The war of words between Taipei and Beijing has once again begun to intensify. Twice a spokesman for the Chinese Government has accused Taiwanese leaders of going too far down the path to separatism by proposing to abolish the Provincial Government. And yesterday Taiwanese Premier Lien Chan warned that 'China must learn to face the reality that the two sides have been governed separately since 1949 and that we are a sovereign state.' He also stood by his government's policies of high-level international diplomacy and seeking a seat on the United Nations. Yet these are precisely the activities most calculated to infuriate Beijing.
Taiwan is relying on China's preoccupation with the change of sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau and preparations for the 15th Congress of the Communist Party Central Committee to limit Beijing's responses to verbal and diplomatic volleys. The last thing the Taipei leadership wants to provoke at this stage is a repeat of the missile tests and military and naval exercises that threatened regional peace last spring. But it is also acutely aware that Beijing's diplomatic hardball has been remarkably successful recently in increasing Taiwan's diplomatic isolation. Beijing, meanwhile, far from encouraging Taiwan to return to the road to reunification, has been refusing to reopen cross-straits negotiations or even to discuss Taipei's future links with Hong Kong.
Yet both sides must also realise the importance to Hong Kong, Macau and the whole region of returning to the negotiating table and toning down the megaphone diplomacy. What Hong Kong's nervous society needs during this period of transition is the assurance that peace and stability will prevail. Increased tensions between the mainland and Taiwan may be disruptive, not only to regional trade and shipping, but to the very stability of China itself. The last thing Hong Kong needs is for China to be distracted from the tasks of reunification by regional upheaval.
For the moment, solving the big principles of Taiwan's status should take second place to the pragmatic issues of economic and trade co-operation. In the long run tighter economic ties will promote reunification. In the short term, they help to keep tensions in check. From Hong Kong's point of view that is of paramount importance.