Oct 1, 2009, 5:08 GMT
Taipei - Taiwanese residents watched China's National Day parade on TV Thursday, and analysts said the grandiose celebration reflected China's power, ambition and confidence in becoming a world power.
As Taiwan bans the broadcast of Chinese TV stations on the island, three Taiwan TV channels provided live coverage of the parade - marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China - via link-up with China Central Television (CCTV).
The three channels - CTI, ETTV, TVBS - invited scholars and military experts to analyze the significance of the parade and China's modern weapons.
'A democratic nation would not spend so much money and energy on putting on such an elaborate show. Only communist and totalitarian countries do this,' China expert Huang Chieh-cheng said on CTI.
Shuai Hua-min, a lawmaker and former military official, said China was expanding the National Day celebration because it wants the world to take it seriously.
'China tells the world: I am somebody. You must take China seriously. The Chinese people have stood up,' he said on CTI.
'For many years, the Chinese people suffered humiliation (at the hands of Western powers). Western countries see Chinese as second-class citizens ... So China wants to display to the world its modern army,' he noted.
Taiwan did not send delegates to China's National Day celebrations, but some 200 Taiwanese, including business leaders, scholars and overseas Taiwanese, attended China's National Day activities in their private capacity.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek lost the Chinese Civil War and fled to Taiwan to set up his government-in- exile.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China, vowing to liberate Taiwan.
In the late 1970s, China replaced its policy to 'liberate Taiwan' with 'seeking peaceful reunification' of Taiwan and the mainland, but continued to threaten to recover Taiwan by force if Taipei declared independence or indefinitely delayed unification talks.
However, cross-strait tension eased marginally after Ma Ying-jeou, from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party, took office on May 20, 2008.
Since then, Taiwan and China have opened sea, air and tourism links.
A flurry of exchanges will kick off after China's National Day holidays, the Commercial Times said Thursday.
The Bank of China will open a branch in Taiwan, and Taipei and Beijing will sign a pact on monetary settlement after that, the paper quoted Sun Yafu, deputy director of Taiwan Affairs of China's State Council, as saying.
Taiwan and China will hold another high-level dialogue in Taichung, central Taiwan, in December to sign four pacts on fishing cooperation, farm products' inspection and quarantine, industrial standards and avoidance of double taxation, Sun told Taiwan businessmen while attending the National Day reception in Beijing Wednesday evening.
The dialogue is expected to discuss the two sides signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which is similar to a free-trade agreement, the Commercial Times said.
China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province, but Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China, claims it is a sovereign state currently recognized by 23 countries.
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