China, Taiwan, and Panda Diplomacy

Everyone's been talking about the two pandas that China recently gave to Taiwan. Chen Shui-bian had refused this gift, but Ma has accepted it as a "goodwill gesture."

Oh, PLEASE. The entire exchange is rife with implications.

Perhaps I'm in a nasty temper, but I'm in no mood to be happy about two pandas whose names together mean "reunion." One news story refers to the little furballs as "the unity pandas," a term that sounds all nice, but you'd be a fool to think that they come with no strings attached. The Foreigner in Formosa isn't happy about it either, so do read why. It's a matter of calling the pandas' export from China to Taiwan as a "domestic transfer." Got that? A domestic transfer -- and the de facto classification of Taiwan as a Chinese territory. (Update: more details via Foreigner in Formosa.)

Maybe the pandas aren't laced with lead or melamine, but they're full of political poison.

Dignified Rant uses the term "charm offensive," with emphasis, I think, on the "offensive."

Anyway, here is my totally reductionist and biased opinion:

Timeo Chinese Communists dona ferentes.