Editorials
Thursday, October 15, 1998

Beijing-Taipei talks are
encouraging sign

THE resumption of unofficial talks between Beijing and Taipei after a lapse of five years is unquestionably an encouraging sign but should not be taken as evidence that the long-standing problem of Taiwan's status has been resolved. Taiwan's top envoy to China, Koo Chen-fu, met his counterpart, Wang Daohan, in Shanghai and later was to be the guest of President Jiang Zemin in Beijing. This will be the highest level at which the rival regimes have met in nearly 50 years.

After the first session in Shanghai, aides said the talks had occurred in "a peaceful atmosphere" that was conducive to exchanging views. However, their comments indicated that the gulf between the two sides' views remained.

Koo and Wang met for the first time in Singapore in 1993 during a high point in China-Taiwan rapprochement, but the atmosphere cooled drastically in 1995 with the visit of Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to the United States. Beijing, which viewed the visit as a step toward Taiwan's declaring itself independent, protested strenuously and canceled a planned second round of talks between Koo and Wang.

The crisis worsened when China staged military exercises and fired test missiles in the vicinity of Taiwan in 1996 at the time of Taiwan's presidential election in an abortive attempt to influence the outcome. President Clinton sent two aircraft carrier groups to the area to show U.S. support for Taiwan. Fortunately, China backed off and a crisis was averted.

The current talks indicate that both sides have tired of confrontation and want to re-establish a working relationship. But no quick solution is in sight. The potential for conflict remains, and the armed forces remain on high alert.

Taiwan recently announced the purchase of nine Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from the United States, the fourth U.S. military sale to Taiwan this year. Earlier sales were for anti-submarine torpedoes, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

For its part, China's military has launched a program of improving its communications and command and control capabilities, which would be needed for an attack on Taiwan.

Fresh from its acquisition of Hong Kong last year, China hopes to persuade Taiwan to accept a semi-autonomous status similar to Hong Kong's.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan recently promised that Taiwan would enjoy "greater autonomy than Hong Kong and Macao" if it reunites with the mainland. A Chinese government spokesman later explained that Taiwan would maintain its own armed forces and get guaranteed positions in the mainland government. Hong Kong and Macao were offered neither.

However, sentiment for independence is growing on Taiwan although the ruling Kuomintang party still nominally supports eventual reunification. The 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown prompted many Taiwan Chinese to support independence.

The best that can be hoped for in the current talks is that Beijing and Taipei will agree to continue the ambiguous relationship of coexistence that has prevailed since the 1949 Communist takeover, while working to resolve secondary issues.

Beijing has repeatedly refused to renounce the use of force in regaining Taiwan. The state of readiness of the forces on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is evidence that neither side has assumed that the problem will be resolved peacefully.

Basketball’s lockout

DISAGREEMENT between the rich and the super-rich over how to cut professional basketball's $2-billion pie has led to its first cancelation of regular-season games for what observers may wince in calling a labor dispute. The erasure of 99 games over a two-week period comes in the form of a lockout called by the National Basketball Association owners over what the upper limits of players' wealth should be. This is a dispute that evokes little sympathy from fans whose incomes are below the six-figure range.

Particulars of the dispute are not the kind to which most working Americans can relate. The owners have proposed a solid salary cap, eliminating what is called the Larry Bird exemption, a sky's-the-limit loophole for their own free-agent players. Players want to keep the Bird exemption and allow owners to assess a 50 percent tax on salaries exceeding $18 million annually for distribution to the less wealthy teams. The average player makes $2.24 million a year; most have socked away enough savings from last season that a lockout on the eve of winter will not keep them from paying their heating bills.

While the effects of a lockout may trickle down to hoi polloi such as basketball arena maintenance crews and concession operators, it is mainly the fans who will be inconvenienced. According to polls, neither side in the dispute can claim support from more than half the fans. Most think neither side cares a whit about their supporters.

Not to worry. Basketball owners and players know from the aftermaths of strikes by the National Hockey League, the National Football League and Major League Baseball that sports fans are a forgiving lot. Professional and college football will hold their attention during the first two weeks of November, but they will root again for the Celtics or Bulls when they take the floor.

One can only assume that what would have been a fortnight's expenditure on pro basketball will be spent on other goods and services. The modest sacrifice by players and owners may be good for the rest of the economy. However, if the deadlock continues and forces cancelation of the entire season, the effects on the sport's future may be more serious.

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Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership

Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor