"Taiwan is holding presidential elections this week, and viewed from the United States it almost seems as if Ralph Nader has moved to the island. For Americans, the Taiwanese vote is not merely an interesting, distant piece of news. China remains fixated, even obsessed, with the island, determined to take it back one day. And while the United States is not obligated to fight on behalf of the Taiwanese, successive administrations for half a century have made it clear they would not tolerate a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Which brings us to Saturday's election. The incumbent party, the Kuomintang, or KMT, advocates peaceful interactions with China, and during President Ma Ying-jeou's four-year term, relations with China have steadily improved. But the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, advocates formal independence rather than the deliberate ambiguity that prevails now. Beijing simply will not tolerate that. At the height of the campaign, Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, declared once again that "achieving reunification" remains China's single-minded goal, adding: "We must strengthen our opposition to Taiwanese independence." Taiwan is among the strongest democracies in Asia, in sharp contrast to China, an unforgiving totalitarian state. When Taiwan held its first two-party election in 1996, the Chinese navy held aggressive war games just off its coast, prompting the United States to send warships of its own into the Taiwan Strait." - Anne Bouey from Bookmarklet

"Washington professes neutrality in the race but has worked to boost Ma's candidacy without wanting to be obvious about it. The State Department has begun talking about offering Taiwanese visa-free travel to the United States, a privilege many Taiwanese would love to have. In fact, attending college here is an important status symbol for islanders; Ma studied at Harvard, Tsai at Cornell. Ma touted the visa offer as an important indication of his strong relations with Washington. But the Taipei Times, which supports Tsai, opined: "Foolhardy or malicious, inadvertent or by design, the U.S. has taken sides" in the election. And with good reason. Visiting the region in November, President Obama made a strong show of support for Asian democracies and promised to continue serving as the military counterpoint to China in the Pacific. But should China once again choose to send warships into the Taiwan Strait after the elections, the U.S. Navy might think twice before dispatching ships of its own. China has developed and deployed an aircraft-carrier killer capable of striking warships almost 2,000 miles away, and the U.S. has no reliable defense because the DF-21D missile comes down toward its target at an angle that makes it difficult for anti-missile defenses to take it out. Military analysts say with certainty that the new missile has no conceivable purpose except to challenge U.S. naval dominance of the region. China is watching the election closely; candidate debates are streamed live to the mainland. And several Taiwanese told me that China tried its best to persuade Soong to drop out of the race. It didn't work. Now, if Tsai wins and the situation devolves into conflict, as so many people fear, one man will hold the lion's share of blame: James Spoiler-Soong." - Anne Bouey

I cackled like a maniac when I heard Soong was running again. He was one of the reasons the KMT lost for the first time back in 2000, letting Chen and the DPP into power. The guy's a persistent nettle in the KMT's side that's for sure. - ronin

"The State Department has begun talking about offering Taiwanese visa-free travel to the United States, a privilege many Taiwanese would love to have." Wait, I thought this was pretty much certain to start later this year? Are they still talking about it? - Jessie

Weird, yeah my parents were talking about it like it was a done deal already. - ronin