Beijing has regarded the island as a province run by dangerous separatists ever since.

"Americans, somehow, seem to regard the South as a different province," he said, seated in his studio office.

The Russians, traditional friends of the Serbs, are concerned that Kosovo, still regarded internationally as a Serbian province, is drifting toward independence.

Some experts say the new enthusiasm is related to the fact that Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province, is itself concluding membership negotiations.

In February 1842, word came that Santa Anna was again sending troops into Texas, which Mexico still regarded as a rebellious province.

It refused to allow the territory's transition to independence, regarding it as a fifth province.

But such a sale would be hotly contested by Beijing, which regards the island as a province separated from the mainland by civil war.

Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province, is an especially sore point.

It is unusual in that it allots human value to a woman in a household role regarded as a province of the lower classes.

Last year, Phoenix covered the election in Taiwan, even though China played down the exercise in what it regards as a breakaway province.