Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Following on the heels of the signing of a controversial cross-strait trade agreement, the authoritarian People's Republic of China is now pressuring President Ma Ying-jeou's rightist Chinese Nationalist Party government to explicitly "oppose Taiwan independence" to maintain "the foundations for mutual trust" across the Taiwan Strait.

Ma has repeatedly declared his intention to "put economics first and politics later" and deal with "easier issues first and harder issues later," but Beijing clearly has its own agenda and timetable in the wake of the June 29 signing in Chongqing of the "Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" by Taipei's Strait Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Ping-kun and Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin.

A look at the headlines of most newspapers yesterday was enough to make one break into a cold sweat over Taiwan’s prospects.

One headline said a US Department of Defense report concluded that China’s military expansion is continuing and that “The balance of cross-strait military forces continues to shift in [China’s] favor” while Taiwan’s defense capabilities remain disappointing.