TAIPEI -- The Cold War may be over in Europe, but it is very much still with us in Asia. The North-South division on the Korean Peninsula is still possibly the world's most dangerous political stand-off. Not far behind is the tension between China and Taiwan. A civil war between the two was frozen just short of completion more than a half century ago because of U.S. political interests and military might.
Taiwan's authoritarian and repressive regime was for decades a mirror image of that of the mainland, but over the last 20 years both have taken enormous steps -- with Taiwan leading the charge -- toward opening up their markets, economies and the societies. Taiwan is a highly successful tiger economy, accounting for more than 10 percent of the world's production of information-technology components.
With both China and Taiwan members of the World Trade Organization, the European Commission rightly opened a European Trade and Economic office almost 12 months ago in Taipei.