The bone in Beijing's throat Posted: December 22, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. During the early Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev referred to West Berlin, the free city of 2 million surrounded by the Red Army and East Germany, as "a bone in our throat." That bone helped kill the Soviet Empire. Now, the bone in Beijing's throat is Taiwan. Though the island was ruled by the mainland for only four years of the 20th century, Beijing claims Taiwan as a lost province. Before 1945, Taiwan was a colony of Japan, which had seized it in the...
