THE TAIWAN STRAIT is the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia, and so the ice-breaking meeting Saturday between China's president, Hu Jintao, and Taiwan's vice president-elect, Vincent Siew, opens a dialogue that should be welcomed by neighbors and partners of both governments.
The new thaw between Taiwan and mainland China was heralded by commercial initiatives. As a reward to the incoming Nationalist Party government of Taiwan for rejecting the pro-independence policy of outgoing President Chen Shui-bian, Beijing conferred two gifts on Taiwan's President-elect Ma Ying-jeou: a significant increase in tourist visits to Taiwan and permission for weekly charter flights across the strait.
Incremental as these changes may be, they can nevertheless ease tensions across East Asia and improve relations between China and the United States. President Bush and his predecessors have had to maintain a tricky balance between standing up for the security of Taiwan and warning it not to provoke China by declaring independence.
Much of China's increased defense spending is aimed at countering America's ability to keep Chinese forces from overrunning Taiwan. Last year, China showed that it could shoot down satellites, and it has been developing cyberwarfare capabilities. Both techniques could be used to blind US forces during a confrontation in the Taiwan Strait. Further complicating matters, Japanese nationalists have seized on the Chinese military build-up to justify their efforts to amend Japan's pacifist constitution.
The more commerce and cooperation there is between Taiwan and the mainland, the better for all concerned. If the leaders in Taipei are wise, they will wait patiently for the mainland to emulate Taiwan's robust democracy. At that point, the current communist formula of one country, two systems will become little more than a brief detour on the long road of China's history.
