Across the Taiwan Strait, there were the Sichuan earthquake that killed 80,000 people; the tainted milk scandal that killed many infants and sickened thousands. There were a few bright spots, however. The Beijing Olympics and their million-strong volunteers were praised by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge as "exceptional"; Ma Ying-jeou's triumph in the March election in Taiwan that was a moment of pride for Taiwan's democracy; and America's election of Barack Obama, the first black presidential candidate, to the White House.

When we say adieu to the tumultuous Year of the Rat and are embracing the Year of the Ox, we should look into the future, especially with regard to the development of our relations with mainland China and with the United States in a historical perspective, well beyond the phenomena that distract us from the locus of the problem. In short, we should stop being shortsighted.

Thirty or 40 years from now, people would view the anti-Chen Yunlin protest in November 2008 as laughable. Why? Because time will have changed a lot of things and solved many of the problems confronting us today, like the one-China issue, the 1992 consensus, the one country, two system controversy. Fifty years ago, Mao Zedong vowed to "liberate Taiwan" with a bloodbath, while Chiang Kai-shek swore to "counterattack and retake" the mainland he lost to Mao in 1949. Even as recent as two decades ago, the so-called "three-no's" was still the be-all, end-all in dealing with the mainland. Now "three links" has become the order of the day. Is that Taiwan has betrayed Chiang? Or has the mainland spurned Mao?

No. Times have changed. And they will keep changing. That's why we should stop being shortsighted, and dare to look farther, a decade or two from now, and beyond. The China problem, or the Taiwan problem for that matter, will not be a problem if it is put into historical perspective. Taiwan's pro-independence, pan-green separatists need not fear so much of the mainland and be so paranoid about being "swallowed" by China which is preoccupied with more pressing matters at home.Taiwan should know what its priorities are and unification is certainly not among them. Sun Yun-suan, the late premier and statesman, said nearly 30 years ago that the problem of reunification will be resolved "when the gaps that separate the two sides narrow." Sun was prescient, who viewed the then hyper-sensitive issue from a historical high ground. Now his views have largely been proved true, as the mainland is becoming richer and its people freer after three decades of "reform and opening" that has significantly narrowed the economic and political gap between the two sides.

In fact, it does not require an expert to understand this, which was based on the pursuit of a win-win situation. Both sides need peace and prosperity which cannot be achieved by war and confrontation. It is only natural that Ma Ying-jeou made closer ties with the mainland his campaign platform and got an overwhelming mandate.

If you look at some of the milestones in cross-strait relations, there is optimism for a sanguine future. From the three-no's of 1979 (no contact, no talk, no compromise) to three-links of Dec. 15, 2008 (direct transport, trade and postal links), it has been a long march along a tortuous path. The march keeps going on toward the common goal that benefits people of both sides.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security adviser who played a key role in normalizing U.S. relations with China in 1979, said this week on TV that he believes the Taiwan problem will be resolved by time. He told the Hongkong-based Phoenix TV in an interview that the two sides will be able to solve the problem in the future peacefully. His views, interestingly, are similar to that held by premier Sun 30 years ago.

The Polish-born scholar and statesman recalled that when he first visited Beijing for talks with Deng Xiaoping on normalization in the 1970s, Beijing had only 1,500 foreigners. Now there are more than 150,000. "China has changed so much that it is not the same," he said, adding that China and the United States will be the world's two major players as well as its stakeholders. Brzezhinski, who will be incoming President Obama's foreign affairs adviser, believes that China's peaceful rise does not pose a threat to the rest of the world, America or Taiwan included.

He was, of course, viewing the world in a historical perspective. He made difficult and unpopular recommendations to President Carter, whose name once become a dirty word in Taiwan for his betrayal of Taiwan, a long-time ally. When Warren Christopher, Carter's deputy secretary of state, visited to Taiwan in 1979, he was greeted by eggs and potatoes from violent protesters at the Sungshan airport.

In retrospect, such emotional protests, like last month's violent demonstration against Chen Yunlin, were but blips in history. The tides of times are irresistible and unstoppable, washing away all that standing in the way.

Unless, of course, if you stop being shortsighted, and have the courage and wisdom to look forward, and put things in the focus of history.

So, let's resolve here highly, on the advent of the Year of the Ox, that we stop being shortsighted any more. We hope and believe that Taiwan is not short of great, visionary leaders.