Taiwan-China Trade

* Re “China, Taiwan Move 95 Miles Closer to Political Cooperation,” by Robert Manning, Opinion, Feb. 4:

Having lived in Taiwan for about 30 years during the highly confrontational period between China and Taiwan, I was delighted to read that the two bitter political rivals were “95 miles closer” politically, realizing that mainland China and the main island of Taiwan were only 100 miles from each other geographically. But my dream of seeing the two former archenemies reunite under mutually acceptable terms was short-lived. Closer reading of Manning’s article revealed that “Taiwan recently opened direct-trade, travel and communications ties with two Taiwanese islets that are less than five miles from the mainland.” So both sides are now only about five miles closer to each other politically. There are 95 more miles to go.

To paraphrase the Chinese saying: The journey of 100 miles starts with the first five miles.

DIENYIH CHEN

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