Discussions between a Chinese and a Westerner:
Who owns Taiwan?



C: Chinese, W: Westerner




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1. Let´s make a deal


C:  
If there's going to be a war between us and Taiwan, Taiwan will definitely lose.
W:  
Don´t you think that America would play a role if there is a war?
C:  
They don´t want to get into a war with China.
W:  
They may have no choice. You have heard of the Taiwan Relations Act, haven´t you?
C:  
I wonder why the Americans can´t make a deal with us. We would get Taiwan, and they can have North Korea!
W:  
Are you kidding? Who wants North Korea? The Taiwan Relations Act is law, made by Congress! Presidents have no choice, even if they´d like to. If Taiwan is attacked, America has to intervene. They can´t stay out of it. What would other allies of the US say, if this is the way the Americans honour the alliance with Taiwan? Can you imagine their conclusions?
C:  
America is obstructing the dreams and desires of the Chinese people - here, and in Taiwan!
W:  
The Taiwanese are free to choose. They have free elections, haven´t they? Do you think America would stop them, if they chose re-unification?



2. Our country is different


C:  
The India Times shows deep regret for their past hatred against our country.
(Checks the impact of the words from his local newspaper on the foreigner. There are stacks of papers on his table. He keeps his fingers at the relevant lines of the article.)
C:  
India always supposed that we were biased. But they had to change their mind. This year, China said nothing about the Kashmir conflict. Now, this is official. The India Times is the official paper, in India.
W:  
Is it?
C:  
Yes. When we had the border conflict with them, our troops went across the border, into India. But after we had won the war, we went back to the accurate border lines, without delay.
W:  
Just like during the conflict with Vietnam, in the 1980s, right?
C:  
Yes. We would never occupy Hanoi. America would try. But our country is different.
W:  
Couldn't the Americans have occupied Baghdad, after liberating Kuwait? And didn't they respect the border between North and South Korea, after the war?
C:  
That's not what I learnt at school...
W:  
Maybe our information material is too different. How about some chess?
C:  
OK. You are still learning. I will give you some hints while playing. Later, I won't give you that many hints, any more.



3. Ba Wang Bie Ji (Used Concubine)


W:  
This looks fatal.
C:  
Yes. It is. There´s nothing you can do, now. Let´s start another game.
(Collects the remaining chess pieces from the board.)
C:  
You know, in every state, there are Wenguan and Wuguan. Civilian and military officials. In America, Richard Cohen would be a wenguan. Wesley Clark would be a wuguan.
W:  
Mhm.
C:  
When you look on this chess board, you see that this is the state of Chu.
(points at the Chinese characters on the board.)
C:  
The state of Chu once had a king named Ba. He was very powerful, and there was a man working in his administration who was very jiaohua (tricky, cunning).
That smart man had a beautiful concubine, and the king wanted her for himself. After he got her, his advisors urged King Ba to kill the man who had lost his concubine to him. If he didn´t, he would be in real trouble, sooner or later.
But King Ba was a very generous man, and refused to kill the man in his administration, as he found that he hadn't done anything wrong. Some time later, the tricky man left the state of Chu, and founded the Han state.
As the man who had lost his concubine to King Ba was now himself the King of the Han state, and as under his crafty leadership, the state of Han grew stronger from day to day, it became clear that the state of Chu was in great trouble. Chu would not win a war against Han, and war seemed inevitable. Under those circumstances, King Ba decided to kill himself.
Before he did so, he bode farewell to his concubine, and ordered her to cross the border, and go to the King of Han. So, by creating a state of his own, the King of Han won his concubine back.
W:  
Kind of weird that the tale calls a man generous, who took the wife of his subordinate...
C:  
We can´t say that she was anyone's wife. She was everyone´s bitch. At those times, no one would consider King Ba´s behaviour wrong. Usually, we´d use this proverb, "King Ba bids his concubine farewell", when a relationship is over, and when we feel that we wasted our time on another girl that proved to have no class.

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