Cif America  America's missile diplomacy  The US arms sale to
Taiwan has simply upset China instead of serving as a catalyst
to settle the dispute over the island's status     • Jump to
comments ()  On Friday, Taiwan will celebrate its national day,
which is actually the 97th anniversary of Sun Yat Sen's
declaration of the old, non-communist Republic of China, whose
flag is still the official banner of the island. Beijing gets
very upset if Taiwan drops its claim to represent all of China
and instead opts to go its own way officially, the way it has
done in practice for 50 years.  The Taiwan Relations Act
mandates the White House to ensure that the island has the means
of self-defence. In fact, it says that "the United States
decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's
Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of
Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means," which one could
consider somewhat negated by all those threats and missiles in
the mainland.  The Bush administration