Primero que todo, Don Beto dejara plasmado el articulo aparecido en la revista "the Economist" el dia 11 de Enero del presente ano, el cual es el siguiente:
COMO ES DE INTERESANTE QUE SE LE LLAME A TAIWAN "LITTLE CHINA"
Taiwan's presidential race
Big election in little China
Jan 11th 2012, 8:18 by J.R. | TAIPEI
TAIWAN’S presidential election on January 14th seems set to decide the future of this unusual island’s relations with China. But in final days of campaigning, Ruifang, an obscure former mining town on Taiwan’s woody north-eastern coast, was entranced by the more personal aspects of a visit from the incumbent candidate, Ma Ying-jeou—and with the carnival atmosphere that accompanied him.
Cymbals clashed for a gaudy lion-dance performance through the streets, before Mr Ma told over 1,000 of his supporters, packed under a brightly striped tent, that his ruling Kuomintang (KMT) has improved relations with China and is bringing them towards a lasting peace.
“I have made my stance clear—no unification, no independence, no use of force—right?” he said. “Right,” roared the crowd.
Attendees were handed red plastic amulets to be worn around the neck. Known as aTaiwan ping’an fu, signifying peace and safety, they share a homonym with the traditional Taoist amulets distributed at Taiwan’s temples for protection.
The president came up with this campaign gimmick in early November, after the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused the KMT of being a “big bad wolf” that favoured big business at the expense of ordinary people. In a nod to the Three Little Pigs, they launched a fundraising campaign that sent round 100,000 piggy banks to collect small political donations for the party. The piggy banks had nothing to do with the party’s pro-independence stance, but they were a hit. By January 6th, the DPP said, they had helped rake in $6.7 million.
Mr Ma’s amulets tie in with his themes of cross-strait warming (and he has raised buckets of them over incense burners at temples, to be blessed on the campaign trail), but they have not been so popular.
In addition to passing out plastic election kitsch, Mr Ma has been talking a big game about boosting stagnant wages and tamping down rocketing housing prices and unemployment. However there is no escaping the fact that at the heart of the election there is going to be a vote on this vibrant, democratic island’s future relations with the giant authoritarian state on the mainland.
Ever since Mr Ma was elected four years ago, he has strived to bring an end to the era of cold-war-style hostilities with China, now six decades old. New business accords, such as the institution of direct flights across the strait of Taiwan, agreements on tourism and a partial free-trade pact inked last year have all been part of the larger project. Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back to the fold, has been happy to offer Mr Ma economic sweeteners in the hope that under his direction the Taiwanese public will develop fonder feelings towards China. In the long run, China's leaders hope for the island to become so enmeshed in the mainland’s enormous economy as to make unification an inevitability.
Sweeteners and blessed amulets notwithstanding, the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen, a former academic, is now running neck-and-neck with Mr Ma. Although Ms Tsai is a moderate and does not favour rolling back Mr Ma’s commercial initiatives, she is deeply mistrusted in Beijing. China’s leaders remembers the 2000-2008 rule of Chen Shui-bian, a firebrand for independence when he was president, now stuck in prison for corruption. A win by Ms Tsai bring back the bad old days of military tension. The overarching—and perhaps insurmountable—sticking point between Ms Tsai and China’s government has to do with her refusal to accept an informal cross-strait consensus reached over a decade ago. The consensus holds that Taiwan is “a part of China”, though the two sides may disagree on the meaning of that. Accepting the consensus is Beijing’s bottom line. Analysts say that China has been floored by Ms Tsai’s surge of support in recent months and that it is psychologically unprepared for a DPP government, a situation that could give ammunition to hardliners in Beijing who were already opposed to taking a softer stance on Taiwan. This dynamic could be complicated further by China’s leadership transition, due in autumn this year, when Chinese president Hu Jintao is expected to hand over the leadership of the Chinese Communist Part to Xi Jinping, a fellow moderate.
Bruce Jacobs, a professor of politics at Australia’s Monash University, says Mr Ma is definitely Beijing’s preferred candidate. Mr Ma is also believed to be favoured in Washington; America has pledged to help Taiwan defend itself from Chinese attack—and does not want another crisis on its hands.
Concerns about security, however, were the last thing on the mind for many of Ruifang’s residents. Zhou Su-fen, a retired nurse who was standing next to a roadside stall selling all kinds of pro-Ma paraphernalia (including dolls of Mr Ma dressed in skimpy running gear), echoed others in the crowd when she said that for her the rally was simply an opportunity to see all the political figures she knew from television—in person, for the first time. Like many attendees at KMT rallies, she said she preferred Mr Ma’s government for being less corrupt than the DPP (though everyone regards Ms Tsai herself as being perfectly clean).
A deciding factor in the election will be the performance of another pro-China presidential candidate, James Soong, a former high-ranking member of the KMT, who is running as an independent. Although Mr Soong normally commands only 10% of the vote or less, any surge of support for him in this tight race would siphon more precious votes away from Mr Ma than from Ms Tsai.
Taiwan will be holding elections for its 113-seat legislature at the same time. The DPP, which holds fewer than a third of the seats, is expected to improve its standing. A hung parliament is not out of the question, which could slow the speed of the cross-strait thaw, even if Mr Ma wins.
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