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      A calibrated provocation

     Mar 2nd 2006 | BEIJING
     From The Economist print edition
     But China has not fallen into the trap.

     （1）IN THE elaborate ★fiction[1] that governs relations across the Taiwan Strait, there exists in Taiwan a body called the National Unification Council, whose notional aim is to advise the president on how the island and the mainland are to u_______①, an aim which China and Taiwan notionally share. The body has been inactive for six years. But when President Chen Shui-bian appeared to scrap it this week, he caused anger in China, and worry in America.

     Mr Chen has been weakened by scandals in his party but has two years l______② in office. Appealing to Taiwanese nationalism is one way to rally support. Hence the appeal of scrapping a body that is supposed to advise him on unification. But Mr Chen does not want to provoke China into a military response. So （2）his decision was judiciously worded. The council, he said, had “ceased to f________③” and its guidelines had “ceased to apply”. This phrasing suggests the possibility of a future revival.

     The careful wording was also partly intended to pacify America, which has been trying to persuade Mr Chen not to ★rock the boat[1] since late January, when he signalled his intention to take this step. A spokesman for the State Department said America would “continue to hold President Chen by his commitments not to take unilateral moves”. He also said it was America's understanding that Mr Chen had not formally a_________④ the council.

     

附件：考研读译参考《经济学家》——精准的挑衅