Colin Powell on Taiwan

This story comes from a long chain of links but it is worth reading. At Instapundit, guest blogger Michael J. Totten links to this story in the Asia Times which he found at Harry's Place which has some followup information: From the Asia Times: bq. Taiwan reels from Powell's anti-sovereignty 'goof' Taiwan is still recovering from something approaching a collective heart attack over remarks made by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Beijing this past week. Powell was in the Chinese capital principally to urge China to put pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear-weapons program. While there he gave interviews to two cable TV networks, CNN International and China's Phoenix TV, at Beijing's China World Hotel. What Powell said: bq. This time around, however, was something special. In interviews on Tuesday, Powell spoke in unusually harsh terms on the topic of Taiwan's sovereignty. "Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy," he said. Give me a break - Taiwan is one of the few true democracies in that part of the world. It is also an economic powerhouse, not only for electronics but also for machinery. Imagine the drop in innovation and quality if China took over. An update at Harry's Place has the following news: bq. Update: Powell is quite wrong when he says "all parties" are seeking reunification. According to a recent poll "fewer than 2% of Taiwanese want unification now and only about 11% want it at all. (This is compared with 6% who want a formal declaration of independence immediately and 18% who want it some time in the future.) Forty percent of all Taiwanese prefer the status quo now/decision later option, while 18% want the status quo to last forever". bq. (Via Fabian's Hammer.)