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- <text id=91TT1006>
- <title>
- May 13, 1991: World Notes:Taiwan
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- May 13, 1991 Crack Kids
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 39
- World Notes
- TAIWAN
- O.K., O.K., We Lost
- </hdr><body>
- <p> It has taken four decades, but finally the Nationalists in
- Taiwan have admitted that they lost the civil war in China.
- Announcing the lifting of wartime provisions in Taiwan last
- week, President Lee Teng-hui conceded, "From now on, we must
- accept the reality that the communists control the mainland."
- He even called the Beijing regime a "political entity," bold
- words for a leadership that once referred to Deng Xiaoping & Co.
- as "rebel usurpers."
- </p>
- <p> In the past four years, Taipei has promoted informal ties
- with Beijing, permitting its citizens to visit the mainland and
- sanctioning indirect trade across the Taiwan Strait. But, the
- Nationalists warn, their latest peace offering must be answered
- in kind by Beijing before tensions ease any further.
- </p>
- <p> Taiwanese politics will be significantly affected by the
- abrogation of the antiquated laws, which gave the President
- almost unchecked emergency powers and allowed hundreds of aged
- parliamentarians, who were last elected on the mainland 44 years
- ago, to remain in office. At one stage, the debate over the
- reforms grew so heated that a free-for-all erupted in
- parliament. In the end, it was decided that a new National
- Assembly would be elected in December. Eighty seats, however,
- will be reserved for mainland representatives, proving that the
- Nationalists are not yet ready to give up every shred of their
- claim to China.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-