China: August 14, 1999

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China continues its police and propaganda campaign against Falungong practitioners. Attention is also being paid to the even larger number of qigong exercise/meditation groups (with over a hundred million practitioners.) Diplomatic and military pressure continues against America and Taiwan over Taiwan's independent status. Militarily, China has fewer options than it appears. Taiwan has two fortified islands less than five kilometers from the Chinese coast, but even taking these would take more navy resources than China possesses. Taking Taiwan is clearly beyond Chinas capabilities, even without the aid of the U.S. Navy. China could try and blockade Taiwanese ports, but the Taiwanese could do the same to Chinese ports, and China needs it's overseas as much as Taiwan does. China could threaten nuclear war, but that would be a diplomatic disaster, and it is greatly outmatched in that area by the United States.

 

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