So, I think China desperately needs to legitimize some form of opposition. William C. Kirby Read Quote
And look at the mess that Russia is; most Chinese don’t want to follow that. William C. Kirby Read Quote
The Chinese government since 1979 has been very successful in economic development, and successful enough, simply by surviving, in the realm of political development. William C. Kirby Read Quote
The PRC is the big brother in this relationship, and it has the capacity to be generous to Taiwan on this issue in a manner that might do much to defuse that issue internally in Taiwan. William C. Kirby Read Quote
So, anything that avoids a conflict that could draw in, unhappily again, outside powers such as the United States or revisit, for example, Japan’s interests in the Taiwan area would be the last thing that anyone would want. William C. Kirby Read Quote
The most important thing that certainly the United States and other Asian and Pacific actors have done is to urge that whatever happens, however the dispute is resolved, that it be resolved peacefully. William C. Kirby Read Quote
A war in the Taiwan Strait would destroy China’s international relations overnight. It would destroy Chinese – Japanese relations, not to mention Chinese – American relations. William C. Kirby Read Quote
The greater concerns in China and Taiwan are on the political side, not on the economic side. William C. Kirby Read Quote
Harvard is first and foremost a university and not a consulting operation, and our job here is to teach and to research and to create knowledge on Asia in conjunction and in cooperation with scholars as well as with political, intellectual, and cultural leaders in Asia. William C. Kirby Read Quote
