The (Ex) Washington Realist

Drew Thompson and I look at an overlooked issue in all the debates about Kosovo's final status--the Taiwan dimension--in the International Herald Tribune. One commentator said to me that he thinks Drew and I have overstated the case--this comes from the perspective that Kosovo is "just" a European issue and has no relevance anywhere else.

But Taipei is interested and has been interested since 1999. They are interested in the same way that Nagorno-Karabakh is interested. They see a useful precedent and a wedge. So no, we shouldn't be pretending that what we outlined is not a possibility--and Beijing's reaction will be entirely predictable.