[tallhappy]

Very bad decision on the President's part.

I have been a huge supporter of his. I now lose a fair amount of respect for him and also confidience in his character and ability to withstand pressure and not act and speak things against his own principles.

Regardless, this will hurt President Bush in the long run. He simply undermines himself by going against his own principles and the Bush doctrine that has been developing.

Say it ain't so, Joe...

[tallhappy]

You were wrong Patricia. He did shaft Taiwan.

[applemac_g4]

I'll second that disappointment. If this is the sort of money grubbing, amoral foreign policy we're going to follow as a nation...I'd rather see a Demonrat president be responsible for it.

Are you listening Dubya? The natives that put you into office are restless.

[xm177e2]

I disagree Tallhappy, Bush hasn't sold out Taiwan at all. Look at the text of what he said:

On Taiwan, I emphasized to the President that our one China policy, based on the three communiques in the Taiwan Relations Act, remains unchanged. I stressed the need for dialogue between China and Taiwan that leads to a peaceful resolution of their differences.

Now look at the text of the Taiwan Relations Act, specifically:

(3) to make clear that the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means;

(4) to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States;

(5) to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character; and

(6) to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.

(c) Nothing contained in this Act shall contravene the interest of the United States in human rights, especially with respect to the human rights of all the approximately eighteen million inhabitants of Taiwan. The preservation and enhancement of the human rights of all the people on Taiwan are hereby reaffirmed as objectives of the United States.

The ChiComs HATE the Taiwan Relations Act more than anything else, that's our guarantee of support for a free Taiwan for an indefinite period of time, supporting "reunification" only whenever the Taiwanese people feel like it. It is our guarantee not only to sell weapons to Taiwan, but to back them with US troops.

[GretchenEE]

Let us all remember daily that the business of China is lying.