Arthur Waldron, writing in the blog of the conservative rag Commentary, all but accuses the Bush Administration of cowardly kowtowing to Beijing:Though there’s been little notice of it in the press, the Bush administration appears to have made an enormous change in its Taiwan policy of the last three decades, abandoning the careful hedging that has long characterized it, and instead lining up with Beijing to force the island nation to agree to the mainland’s terms. The reason appears to be that harsh Chinese military threats intimidated Washington.
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Taiwan is already a nation state in every respect but certain Chinese claims. The U.S., moreover, has never recognized any Chinese sovereignty over the island. But when Secretary of Defense Robert Gates met Chinese General Cao Gangchuan yesterday, he got a dose of saber-rattling. The general stated menacingly that “the Chinese government will act in accordance with its anti-secession law to take any necessary actions for unification of the country.” That is to say: China will go to war.
President Bush appeared frightened as well. According to the American Forces Press Service, “President [George W.] Bush has said the United States is against independence for the island nation.” Make no mistake: these are fundamental changes in the American position. Worse, they confirm to Beijing that she can intimidate the United States. Washington undoubtedly sees this change as wise and expedient, given China’s growing power. What Washington misses are the longer term implications. To name but one, the security of Japan, our most important ally in the region, depends upon Taiwan’s continued independence. A strong stance, and a flat “no” to Chinese demands would, I suspect, have been the better road to peace.
Waldron is a longtime friend of the island. Speaking of right-wing commentary, the John Birch society also comments on Gates' visit to China.
UPDATE: Yesterday I noted the controversy over the Pentagon's bizarre terming of the UN referendum an "independence referendum" and calling Taiwan an "island nation" in the same document. The US has now issued the usual "clarifications" and "revisions."
[Taiwan]
As directed by your post, I read Waldron's piece. And all along an odd intuition crept in my mind. I proceeded to scrolling down the comments and reached yours. There was my intuition, all spelled out. I returned to Waldron's piece for a cue. Found none. But I completely concur with your comment. Would you care to elaborate on it?
ReplyDeleteI've become increasingly terrified of the possibility.
ReplyDeleteCounting the days until the Bush Presidency....
I might post on it later, man.
Michael
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI just started reading the book "China attacks", and though it is not a masterpiece and I haven't covered 20 pages, it did suppoort a couple of ugly feelings have kept me awake longer than usual.
1. US forces are stretched to the limit -Taiwan recently sold extra ammunition to the US- hence they are unable to present a realistic deterrent to the PRC forces should they choose this time to attack.
(in the book, China creates a diversion to prevent US intervention, now it is not even necessary)
2. Our so called allies have that defected could not have done so without the go-ahead from US. having control over key players in international organizations, plus having set a continuos public relations campain ingraining in teh world public's minds that "Taiwan is a province of China and must be united" sets teh international scenario FAVORABLE to PRC's claims and future actions over the island.
(hence, there won't be any international outrage over any military action/invasion; on the contraruy, based on the world's reaction to Irak and otehr places, the US would come out looking very badly if they even dare to attempt to help Taiwan defend itself.)
Scary, indeed....