That will be unification of a sort.
What it could not abide would be unification by force.
It was after all part of the Good Friday agreement, that if both the north and the south of Ireland so wished, in future there might be unification.
Ma's stated goal for Taiwan is unification with China, an outcome wholly incompatible with "democracy" as the notion is understood in English.
The best he might get is unification on the German model of 1990, with Belarus's six regions joining Russia's existing 89.
"Our only justification for 200 years of power was unification," says a character in Paul Scott's Raj Quartet, reflecting on the ugliness of partitioning the subcontinent into India and Pakistan.
Other commemorative dates loom: October 3rd is unification day, a national holiday, and November 9th will mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The big theme of the new platform seems to be unification.
The second was unification of the African continent as one group.
"The project's subject is the displaced, but the bigger theme here is unification.
