World Nut Daily: Bush Caves To China

One of the interesting things about supporting Taiwan is that in the US both the Red-Staters and the Blue-Staters support Taiwan. Only a few whackjob Leftists who locate themselves to right of Xinhua, and some old academic supporters of the KMT, still demur. Here is a piece from right-wing columnist Joseph Farah bashing Bush for complaining about Chen Shui-bian's New Year's Day surprise:

But this week, the United States told the people of Taiwan, once again, to forget about independence.

Don't even talk about it, the State Department warned. You might enflame the passions of the totalitarians in Beijing who want to crush your free island nation and subjugate you as one more miserable province in their fascist nightmare-land of forced abortion, controlled speech, dictatorial rule and crushed dissent.

Taiwan's duly elected president, Chen Shui-bian, has suggested drafting a new constitution emphasizing the nation's independence and said he believes the country deserves a seat in the United Nations.

For that he was firmly and rudely rebuked by Taiwan's so-called ally, the United States.

The State Department said the United States "does not support Taiwan's independence and opposes unilateral changes to the status quo by either Taiwan or Beijing."

"We're issuing this, in the wake of some comments by President Chen in Taiwan, that we don't want to be inflammatory or send the wrong signal," said spokesman Adam Ereli. "We certainly weren't expecting it, and we weren't consulted about it."

I've got a bulletin for the State Department and the Bush administration: The status quo is that Taiwan is a free and independent nation in every sense of the word -- like it or not.

Why would the United States oppose independence for another nation? Why would the United States condemn another people for struggling for it? Why would the nation that made history by declaring independence from the greatest superpower at the time in the world denounce another people fighting for the same thing?

The answer, of course, is obvious. We don't want to rock China's boat.

Imagine if the French of the 18th century took a similar stance. Imagine if Lafayette didn't want to "be inflammatory or send the wrong signal." Imagine if our founders were as timid as the Bush administration about freedom.

It's simpleminded, but it's nice to see a show of support for Taiwan that is also an attack on King George. If only the wingnuts loved democracy at home with the same gusto that they feted it abroad.

[Taiwan] [US] [President Sociopath] [Chen Shui-bian] [US Foreign Policy]