December 10, 2003
I just realized that the reason I haven't posted more is because I'm no longer getting my daily NYTimes emails. I don't know why, but I suspect they're being spam-filtered somewhere. So today I'm looking at the The Deseret News and found this article about Bush, China and Taiwan.I'm a little miffed by Bush's actions. To gain support from the Chinese Premier, Bush basically condemned Taiwan's independence attempts. I think that's hypocritical. Didn't the U.S. break away from an obsessive mother country to be independent? Didn't Bush just give a big speech about actively encouraging Democracy throughout the world? Aren't we fighting a war to establish a Democracy in the Middle East? I've been to Taiwan more than once, and have read newspapers there and talked to people about these issues. From my understanding, Chiang Kai Chek and some others broke away years ago (1949) from China and the Communist Mao Ze Dung. They've been considered a renegade province by China and their official name is "Republic of China" as opposed to China's official name "People's Republic of China." However, the Taiwanese consider themselves basically soveriegn and want to go by the name Taiwan, which is what everyone knows them as. But this would require recognition from China, who won't allow it, instead focusing quite a few missles at the little island to dissuade them from voting for independence. There's even talk that because of treaties at the end of WWII, the U.S. actually owns Taiwan, and some are calling for Taiwan to be a state in the U.S.Yet Bush is telling them to crawl back in their box, not worry about independence, and let China and its Communism take over. While politically popular with China, I still don't think this is the right approach.
Posted by charr at 4:40 PM
Reader Comments
There is much I like about Bush. There is just as much that I dislike. This is one of the bigger things I dislike: his foriegn policies are inconsistant. Oy.I've never heard about Taiwan belonging to the US. A state? That's an interesting idea.
Yeah, that surprised me too, but I believe I still have the newspaper that talks about it. I should check one of these days.
Is "hipocracy" a government by hips? Hipsters, maybe? Or hippos? I don't see how that could work. I'll bet a lot of hipsters will vote Democrat, though. Not so much hips or hippos, though.
Something like that. It looked better than hipocrisy as a catchy title.
I think you're not getting the emails because they saw your blog as a referrer and found out your conservative. :)
Yes. That's it. A vast left-wing conspiracy. For a while there, they had some moderate Op-Eds, but I guess that hurt too much, so they took me out of the picture. Cool.
I have a friend that has lived in Taiwan for long periods of time and says most of those living there do not want independance. He said most are satisfied with things the way that they are.
China seems to periodically "flex its muscles" by aiming missiles or whatever in order to scare Taiwan, to keep them in check. They have been doing it for a long time and will probably continue to do it from time to time. I think it is funny that people still respond to it without just rolling their eyes and seeing it as a usual occurance.
Philosophically, the U.S. should side with Taiwan, were they to really push for independance, but politacally and economically the U.S. would side with China. We need to trade with them, and they would be a nasty country to have to do battle with.
Carlene,
That's interesting news. Most of what I gleened from my visits said that they'd like to be Taiwan, not the R.O.C., but your friend would have a better view of it than I would.
Bush isn't as hypocritical as this event may make it seem. A few points: Taiwan has prospered immensely as an orphan. Independence isn't going to necessarily boost it. Second: As China's leadership evolves, it is becoming more mercantile. If you look beyond the most recent leadership change, the most talented and visionary leaders are in industry, not the party, and the capitalistic momentum there favors them. They're relatively young and have less an ideology or tradition to defend. Third: Factor in the cloud of North Korea. NK would make hay if China and Taiwan were suddenly embroiled in a distractive war of their own right now. Suddenly other countries would be dragged in. Fourth: The US has its hands full with Iraq right now. When that engagement has loosened, we'll be more flexible. This is why NK went delinquent when it did, knowing we were stretched thin already. Finally--maybe: This is an election year. Wouldn't the Dems have a heyday--and maybe the presidency--if Bush allowed Taiwan to throw down the gauntlet to China right now? No, look for a more reasoned approach toward the end of Bush's second term. Finally, when nations and alliances were more predictable in days of yore, foreign policy was putatively more predictable and consistent. Today is unlike any era in history and will only become more so. That said, if we look back critically, I promise you you'd find exactly the same journalistic criticisms about EVERY president's policies.
My point is that he has been hypocritical in urging independence to repressed regimes, and then now he goes and says under no circumstances is Taiwan to pursue independence. That is hipocritical in my mind. Yes, there are many political reasons why Bush acted the way he did, but that doesn't make everything right in my mind. Taiwan is new, but not that new -- 50 years. China is getting less repressive, but they're still anything but an open democracy. Yes, the US would be in a world of hurt if they went to fight Taiwan, but in my mind, they shouldn't be there in the first place. If Taiwan doesn't even want Independence, that that makes things much smoother, though it doesn't discount the fact that earlier Bush pushed for independence, and is now reversing his position.
Are u ppl so slow... Many many ppl has known this for centuries inl. me. Khilafah will come back and destroy democracy.
Yeah, you sure got us there. We're all slow 'cause we're not Muslims and we don't believe in (or know anything about) your Khilafah. Yup.The death of democracy by divine intervention is totally irrelevant to the discussion, anyway. This is about whether or not Bush's foreign policy is inconsistent and/or hypocritical.
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There is much I like about Bush. There is just as much that I dislike. This is one of the bigger things I dislike: his foriegn policies are inconsistant. Oy.I've never heard about Taiwan belonging to the US. A state? That's an interesting idea.
Posted by Jan at December 11, 2003 5:17 AM