If the Holy Roman Empire were around today, it would look much like China. Two millennia ago, when the Roman Empire was at its peak, so was the Han dynasty. Both empires barely lasted another 200 years. At the beginning of the last millennium, China was on the verge of being conquered by the Mongols, and divided by a weakened Song dynasty in the south and the Liao dynasty in the north, whose combined territory was equal only to the five northern provinces in today's People's Republic of China. China has been divided over the last two millennia, longer than it has been unified.
History suggests otherwise.
Indeed, with the reacquisition of Macao last month, China is perhaps the only major country in the world that is expanding its territory instead of reducing it. Just as linguistic diversity within China leads linguists such as John DeFrancis to speak of the many Chinese languages, attention to cultural diversity should force us to give further weight to the plurality of Chinese peoples in national politics. While ethnic diversity does not necessitate separatism or violence, growing ethnic awareness and expression in China should inform policy that takes into account the interests of China's many peoples, not just those in power. The United States' policy on China, therefore, should represent more than the interests of those in Beijing. There is an active state-sponsored program of preserving minority cultures and assisting the official minority groups in their economic development, with mixed results.