CHINA

Reuters: China's Army On Combat Alert

In response to the disputed presidential election in Taiwan, China's army went over to combat alert on Saturday (Reuters). If Taiwan is unable to resolve the dispute in an orderly fashion, Beijing officials have hinted at military intervention. The South China Morning Post is reporting, as of Wednesday, that Taiwan's election recount deal has collapsed. Violence has been reported between opposition protestors and Taiwan's police. This crisis offers the communists a possible rationale for exercising Beijing's declared sovereignty over Taiwan.

The disordered state of Taiwan's democracy stems from Saturday's presidential poll in which incumbent President Chen Shui-bian won by a narrow margin of 30,000 votes. The election took place the day after an apparent assassination attempt on President Chen that has been decried as a "stunt" by opposition partisans.

Intervention by China is yet unlikely, despite the combat readiness of the People's Liberation Army.