Chapter3 Summary

CHAPTER3 THE REFERENDUM AND TAIWAN”S INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

According to the authors Owen Bedford and Kwang-Kuo Hwang, this chapter is mainly focused on the referendum and Taiwan’s international relations.
In section 1, the authors showed us the 2004 election of president. They pointed out the referendum was a part of Chen’s election and it was helpful for Chen’s election. Then the author sshowed us the whole strategy of Chen, that was irritating China by referendum and wishing China would say something to threaten Taiwan people. The author firmly believed this would make Taiwanese support DPP (Democracy Progress Party) more..
In section 2, the author talked about the international relationship of Taiwan, including the Taiwan-US relationship and the Sino-Taiwan relationship. The authors tried to show us the attitude of Washington to Taiwan government ,then the attitude of Beijing to DDP and Chen. The authors found that the attitude of US is changing now .They said Washington was become more and more impatient over the past year with Taiwan government. The US especially did not like the referendum. Then they talked about the “APPEASING CHINA”. They demonstrated that China would attack Taiwan if Taiwan declares independence.
In the end, the authors showed their worry. They did not think Taiwan’s future should be manipulated by anyone.