So it’s kind of big news around here. The after shocks of the recent Presidential elections is still being felt. Today was the inauguration of President-elect Chen Shui-bian even though the recount is on-going. He won by 30,000 or so votes and 40,000 votes are in dispute. Meanwhile, China says, that it will invade Taiwan if it decides to “go independent”. See the fun rhetoric here at the NYTimes and CNN where apparently, China is reiterating its intention to use force to keep Taiwan a part of China.
I don’t know… with $100 billion dollars worth of Taiwan investment and $8.5 billion in bi-lateral trade, I hardly think it’s worth all that money to flush down the drain. Even so, the bark is worse than its bite as China simply doesn’t have the military capacity to invade Taiwan successfully (see Normandy and do a comparative analysis). 15 years ago, I was part of the Taiwan Independence debate on SCC (soc.culture.china USENET group) and feel that things are a bit different then than now. Taiwan is a de facto independent nation and Taiwan should call China’s bluff. You can read what Chen Shui-bian feels in his inauguration speech.
AJ and I were musing today on some fun work related events. It’s directly related to the on-going Taiwan development — namely, those who are most capable, have already left Taiwan for other places. Those who are left are well, direct empirical evidence contrary to the stereotype that Chinese people are smart. MIT doesn’t mean what it used to a couple of decades ago.
Anyways, I’m just continuing on my journey here and see where it leads.
=YC
