Posted on 10/26/2004 11:27:58 AM PDT by Walkin Man
Powell's China Comments Anger Taiwanese
Powell Angers Taiwanese Officials, Weighing in on Split With China and Suggesting Unification
TAIPEI, Taiwan Oct 26, 2004 Secretary of State Colin Powell has angered Taiwanese officials and lawmakers by making unusually strong comments denying that the island is an independent nation and suggesting Taiwan should unify with China.
Washington usually avoids weighing in on the touchy split, which arose when Mao Zedong's communist army won control of the Chinese mainland in 1949 and anti-communist forces took refuge on Taiwan.
But Powell waded into the unification question Monday in interviews with CNN and Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television during a one-day visit to China.
According to a State Department transcript, Powell told Phoenix: "There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
& a lot of Mainland Chinese folks(including ones settled abroad) see Taiwan as an integral part of the PRC & a highly emotive prestige issue.Their reasoning is backed by the fact that China can never stake it's claim to true superpower status without taking Taiwan.Bout an invasion being easy,it certainly won't be,but the fact is that China's armed forces are in their best possible shape while the same cannot exactly be said about Taiwan.The Russians & Europeans(along with South East Asia & even Australia) have only solidly thrown their bets on the PRC.
Well the only thing to say is that we will see the results when it all plays out.
According to some on FR, quite well!! Avoiding foreign entanglements and all that.
Ah yes. Dreams of lost empire. Sounds familiar. I can't help but wonder, once they grab Taiwan, where do they stop? Do they then have to take Vietnam, for example, to be a 'true superpower'? Maybe Mongolia? If they can't be a superpower with what they have now, the never will be one.
Ah yes, a return to the largest borders of china with the tributary states.
Mongolia,SE Asia and Korea alonng with Pakistan.
Colin Powell needs to be fired ASAP, before he does any more damage. What is he trying to do, get Kerry elected? These kinds of remarks are just the right kind of thing to drive ultra-right-wing Bush voters into the Constitution Party camp.
Come on. Powell is out front to test Bush's ideas. Powell is not a lone ranger. Powell takes the spear if the reaction is negative. Just like he did on Bush's push for the "2 State solution". Powell is the good soldier.
Sad, but true.
I can understand a demorat having this opinion. Freedom means little to them and communism is second nature to the American left.
What I don't understand is a supposed "conservative" Republican administration having the same exact view as the lame demo Jimmy Carter.
"Ah yes. Dreams of lost empire. Sounds familiar. I can't help but wonder, once they grab Taiwan, where do they stop?"
I think that attacking Taiwan will start a larger, more strategic plan of attacking the middle east and conquering the oil resources. What makes the world go round? It aint love and it isn't even money, it's oil. My guess of the week.
I think that random foreign policy changes are difficult to manage. That's why the Republicans have been cleaning up the Dems messes since the '50's.
The problem with China is that the US has been treating Taiwan as part of China for the last 25 years. That's how our embassies are setup. That's how the State Department is organized. That's how the UN (barf alert) is organized with China as a permanent member of the Security Council with full veto powers.
The policy could be changed but it would create a real foreign policy catfight, not incidental contact like our invading Iraq. It's not best use of President Bush's time. We should be de-clawing our domestic enemies before trying to reorganize the world IMO.
Killing active terrorists is a priority though.
Ah...and there we have it. Money and greed triumph over all!
Whats right, doesn't count for squat.
And to think some freepers slam me and say I can't even be a Christian if I don't vote for the administration that advocates communist slavery over freedom!
LOL!
If we help and support a godless communist dictatorship over free people that only want to live in peace, we will pay for it one day.
All that cheap red Chinese slave product on sale down at the Great Wall-Mart will carry a very high price in the future.
Heck we are already seeing what a great deal "free trade" with the communist giant is. Its driving the cost of oil and gas through the roof!
Kinda puts it in a whole new light, filling your gas chugging SUV with 2 dollar plus (going ever higher) gas so you can drive down to the Great Wall-Mart and buy cheap junk!
What a DEAL! LOL!
They had a God-given right to do so! So did our founding fathers, did they not??
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Bush gets my vote as a Republican. The constitution party already gets the rest of the votes.
You know, Colin, this is not right for you to say! Even if that is what W would say. Sometimes even W can be wrong!
What was that about freedom??? This burns me up.
Shame on you all!
Colin Powell never should have been appointed in the first place. The only reason he was made Secy. of State is that he was a media darling from Gulf War I and he was the popular choice. Lessons learned: the popular choice isn't always the best choice (many times, the opposite is true).
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