One country, many systems?

SINGAPORE -- China is said to be changing fast and profoundly, but three recent issues highlight best the changing concept of regionalism in China:

* In a statement May 17, China warned Taiwan not "to cross the red line" of Taiwanese independence while acknowledging that Taiwan might be accorded some "international living space" on condition that it accept the "one China" policy. This was the first time that such a phrase (which appears more often in the vocabulary of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian than Beijing leaders) was ever used in an official Beijing statement. Furthermore, the statement did not even mention the "one country, two systems" mantra and significantly downplayed "unification."

* China also recently announced that it would allow Guangdong, Hong Kong and other southern provinces to create a regional Pearl Delta grouping. Although this measure was surely aimed at wooing Hong Kong residents before July 1 -- when demonstrators are expected to take to the streets calling for a greater say in Hong Kong's political future and criticizing the beleaguered Tung administration -- the grouping concept departs from the established norms of centralism in Beijing and the Communist Party of China.