While the disputes over the sovereignty of the Diaoyutai (Senkaku) Islands continue to dominate the news, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou finds himself once again in a conundrum that his posturing and bravado will not solve. One cannot deny that posturing has served him well on occasion in the past, but at root here is something deeper, Ma’s inability to break with his Chinese past. This attachment to his past leads to a divided thinking which in turn then dictates his unfortunate but frequent modus operandi, that of trying to keep a foot in each of two boats.