Mr. Su adds that there is more at stake than just the relationship between Taiwan and China. He says the bigger picture includes the United States, which China sees as Taiwan's biggest protector. A defense analyst in Taiwan, Andrew Yang, says the Taiwan government used to count on U-S support. But he says because Washington and Taipei do not always have the same interests, many Taiwanese people feel betrayed. We are a democratic society.
People are peace-loving people.
And the U-S is the arch fighter for democracy. It is really unthinkable for people to watch the United States moving close to Beijing, not close to Taipei. So, there is already a lot of misunderstanding between Taipei and Washington. The head of China's Parliament, Li Peng, recently told a Japanese newspaper the country's reunification with Hong Kong, in 1997, and Macau, in December 1999, will definitely have a large influence on Taiwan. The island is the largest remaining piece of land claimed by Beijing as part of Chinese territory.