tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post5462615567631752879..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Ma's Diplomatic Truce Scores Another Resounding SuccessMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-66229637894765513122009-05-28T21:18:58.396+08:002009-05-28T21:18:58.396+08:00MOFA tried its best to keep the offices open, but ...MOFA tried its best to keep the offices open, but it reached a point where it is impossible to keep on working. Money talks, and in this case, Venezuela gets the best deal: sells oil to China, gets Chinese investment in a long dreamed of refinery, and moreover, won't have to pay all that it took from Taiwan's CPC.Bolivia is also keen on having China buy more stuff, like uranium. <br /><br />Who would have interestes in leaving the Taiwanese businessmen in, say, Cambodia or Bangladesh, without diplomatic support? Is it really that impotrtant? <br /><br />Well, ask the kidnapped crews in Somalia or the sunken shipmates in South Africa.<br /><br />Mighty, mighty dollar, or should I say, yuan.TicoExpathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09924420017053186115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-50015701827303223642009-05-27T21:35:38.102+08:002009-05-27T21:35:38.102+08:00Note too the fallout from US foreign policy -- Cha...<I>Note too the fallout from US foreign policy -- Chavez in Venezuela leans to China because the US leans on Chavez, with concomitant negative results for Taiwan.</I>It sounds like you are faulting the U.S. for this foreign policy. But it comes part and parcel with U.S. support for Taiwan. The U.S. cannot be pro-Taiwan, providing intelligence, weapons, and promises to consider an attack on Taiwan a "grave" issue, without also having an anti-Chavez foreign policy. <br /><br />The pro-Taiwan policies (imperfect as they are) and anti-Chavez policies (although Obama seems to like him) come from the same values - anti-communism, anti-authoritarianism, pro-freedom, and pro-democracy.Readinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-55042183188295539212009-05-27T21:14:19.202+08:002009-05-27T21:14:19.202+08:00I think this latest success definitely deserves a ...I think this latest success definitely deserves a "Ma Save Us!"<br /><br />I really hope this gets reported more widely. I didn't see it in the papers today :-S<br /><br />As for North Korea, I wonder when those idiots in Washington will wake up and realise that they are getting nothing out of China. Going through the Chinese to attempt a diplomatic solution to that problem is pointless. <br /><br />Remember the cries of jubilation by some Obama supporters when they claimed that pirates were a test of his strength and resolve? We will see what this test does. If he allows his administration to be hoodwinked by some Chinese excuses that this is really not a big deal, I would say it is a very very very bad sign for US foreign policy, and doubly so for Taiwan.Tommyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13552370490869601403noreply@blogger.com