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After Hong Kong (1997) and Macau (1999), the government in Beijing also wants Taiwan to "return" to the motherland as soon as possible. In the view of Beijing, incorporation of the island into the PRC would solve the Taiwan Question ( Taiwan wenti), and thus the question of sovereignty would be resolved at last and the sacred unity of the nation completed. For the Taiwanese government in Taipei, however, there is no Taiwan Question. Rather, the partition of the country since 1949 is regarded as a China Question ( Zhongguo wenti) and can ultimately only be resolved by way of negotiati…

1. 1860-1918 During the "long" 19th century until World War I, the structures and changes in international politics largely shaped the German-Chinese relations. The rivalry between the European colonial powe…