n was to come under attack. Indeed, Mr. Chen, an ethnic Taiwanese, attempted to assuage Chinese and Taiwanese Nationalists by offering his acceptance speech in Mandarin Chinese, rather than his native Taiwanese dialect. However, Mr. Chen clearly indicated that he rejected the Chinese tenet of "one China," with its "one country, two systems" approach towards integrating Taiwan into a larger People's Republic of China as unacceptable to the Taiwanese people. Perhaps learning from its foreign policy blunders in attempting to rhetorically strong arm the Taiwanese electorate and the lack of impact it realized from military buildups following the 1996 election, Beijing, both immediately following the election and as late as April 1, 2000 has adopted a "wait and see" approach towards the Chen election and any potential movements by Taiwan to declare independent sovereignty, separate and apart from mainland China. Finally, the most intriguing figure to emerge from these elections is Third Party candidate James Soong. With the ouster of out-going President Lee Teng-hui from his position as KMT party chairman, Mr. Soong is in a strong position to re-enter the KMT as its leader. Additionally, Mr. Soong could sign on with the newly formed New Taiwanese People's Party (NTPP), much to the benefit of President-elect Chen, whose DPP wasn't able to wrest control of Taiwan's Legislature from the KMT. Mr. Soong's allegiance with the NTPP could cost the KMT 50 to 70 seats in the Legislature, thus assuring the DPP a controlling majority. The United States and the Chen Shui-bian GovernmentGiven the previously outlined history of Sino-American relations together with the seemingly cooled rhetoric offered in recent days by both Taiwan and the People's Republic of China following the recent Taiwanese presidential elections, it is the position of this reviewer that the United States should continue to abide by its nearly two decades old policy of "on...
