It can be hard for Westerners to grasp the official ROC position on "the China question," but Mr. Ma explains it compellingly: "There is only one China, but China has been divided into two areas, the Taiwan area and the Mainland area, and there are two political entities controlling respectively the two areas." Sometimes there are language difficulties and Mr. Ma doesn't quite seem to grasp the question he was asked, but mostly this is a fine exploration of the political and economic possibilities ahead, looking towards the time when, as Mr. Rusher phrases it, "Deng Xiaoping is dead, the other older leaders of the Long March are dead, and a new generation has come in, much softer...and serious change is under way there...." MY: "Well, first of all we don't think it's very likely that the Chinese Mainland will deteriorate the way the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe did."