Chairman Xi can't seem to leave Taiwan alone. It might be a personality flaw, or just political pressure from folks at home. Again this week, he has threatened Taiwan with a forceful takeover, but talked out of both sides of his mouth by also saying it can be a peaceful takeover much like Hong Kong. That was probably not the best example he could have used, since the “one country, two systems” balancing act does not get very favorable reviews from people who live there. Just asked those booksellers who managed to get arrested and carted off to China how far that two systems approach goes. There are two systems only as long as Hong Kong follows China's lead. The political leadership is chosen from candidates approved by China, and Taiwan is not buying into that.
I'm more than a little curious as to why this issue is so important. One reason is certainly the lack of progress on bringing Taiwan into the fold. China did manage to get a number of countries to buy into the idea that Taiwan is really part of China, and got the airlines to list it as part of China in their flight destinations. People around the world saw that as absurd and petty, which pretty much sums things up.
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