In recent decades, the nature of Beijing’s anxiety about Taiwan has changed. Rather than worrying that the government in Taipei is plotting to regain authority in mainland China, the Communist Party has fretted that Taiwan might instead declare independence from China. This would contradict the official doctrine that there is only “one China.” The version of history taught to the Chinese people stresses that, during a century of humiliation dating from the 1840s, China was weak, divided and exploited by foreigners. Since 1949, however, a strong Communist Party has stood up for China and
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