From the Washington Times:
The visit to the Pentagon yesterday by Chinese Gen. Liang Guanglie was deliberately kept quiet to avoid calling attention to the now-stalled U.S.-Chinese military-to-military exchange program, defense officials said….The White House has been pressuring Mr. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon to resume the program as a way to court Chinese support for the war on terrorism and other U.S. policies. Mr. Rumsfeld met yesterday with Gen. Liang, who is considered the most powerful member of the Chinese military as the chief of the general staff. Defense officials say Gen. Liang is an advocate of “liberation warfare” against Taiwan and as leader of the Nanjing military district near Taiwan is considered the man who would lead any conflict against Taiwan….
Anyone up for trading Taiwan for the Middle East? I doubt that’s openly on the table, but I’m sure the possibility has been raised by the Chinese. If you think about it, it’s got to be tempting to unprincipled geostrategists who can, at one fell swoop, get rid of an economic competitor – most laptops are now made in Taiwan, underneath the marketing plastic my new 3.4 GHz beast is a Taiwanese Clevo – and secure all the manpower you’d ever need for nation building.