How is the policy of having an embargo against Cuba and not having one against China consistent?
Let's see, They're both communist countries. Chinese companies trade with all the world and all the world trades with China. Castro can trade with just about all the world but the world doesn't want to trade with Castro anymore without a guarantee of payment from a third party. China is a superpower and Cuba is 90 miles off our shore and supports terrorists at home and around the world. China has a growing middle class and a growing market economy. Castro is one of the richest men in the world and pays workers in pesos. Restricting trade with Castro is a profound statement against slavery in our hemisphere and of our commitment to oppressed people around the world. An embargo on China would be teasing a powerful enemy to no purpose. Chinese are extremely nationalistic, Cubans aren't. It's like comparing apples and oranges. There aren't enough consistencies between these two countries to draw a simple comparison. Castro will not help his people out of poverty, he's a tyrant and their desperation is his heel on their thoats. We can do something about that and Otto Reich is reviewing our entire policy toward Castro. The Chinese can step back and take in and guage our mood and act accordingly. Would embracing Castro and communism by lifting trade restrictions help the Chinese or hurt them, or would it make no difference? Do you really care?
China: SORRY STATE (Communist, Nationalist, and Dangerous)-- [Excerpt] This psychopathological aspect of Chinese nationalism was on display in the Hainan affair. Chinese e-mail forums buzzed with demands for the captured U.S. servicemen to be beaten, or sentenced to life imprisonment. Years of relentless propaganda about historical grievances, real and imagined, and the need to restore ancient glories, have created a febrile atmosphere of hyperpatriotic agitation to which it is hard to think of any Western parallel other than the banal and obvious ones of early-20th century fascism.
…… We simply have no leverage here. It is no use trying to pretend that this is the face-saving ideology of a small leadership group, forced on an unwilling populace at gunpoint. The Chinese people respond eagerly to these ultra-nationalist appeals: That is precisely why the leadership makes them. Resentment of the U.S., and a determination to enforce Chinese hegemony in Asia, are well-nigh universal among modern mainland Chinese. These emotions trump any desire for constitutional government, however much people dislike the current regime for its corruption and incompetence. Find a mainlander, preferably one under the age of thirty, and ask him which of the following he would prefer: for the Communists to stay in power indefinitely, unreformed, but in full control of the "three T's" (Tibet, Turkestan, Taiwan); or a democratic, constitutional government without the three T's. His answer will depress you. You can even try this unhappy little experiment with dissidents: same answer. [End Excerpt]
U.S. policy on Cuba to receive full review [Excerpt] The Bush administration has ordered what it calls the first comprehensive review of U.S. policy on Cuba in several years in an effort to find more effective ways to bring about democratic changes on the island, senior administration officials say. Otto J. Reich, the Cuban-born top State Department official in charge of Latin American affairs, said in a telephone interview that he has ordered a review of all areas of the policy, including the four-decades-old U.S. trade sanctions on the communist-ruled island. The review is scheduled to be completed within weeks, he said.
While not ruling out any outcome, Reich said the administration is seeking to make the policy more effective and thus is not likely to loosen the embargo -- a position that would have Congress and the White House headed in opposite directions.
…………. Reich, who will be officially sworn in Monday as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said one area of innovation may be greater support for civil society groups in Cuba. Other U.S. officials say this may include support for human rights activists who are deemed ''traitors'' by the Cuban government.
The officials say they are considering ways to overcome the Cuban government's jamming of the U.S.-financed Radio and TV Martí, and new rules to limit travel by Cuban diplomats in the United States. ''We are going to review the whole thing,'' Reich said. ``The problem is that we have relied entirely on one component of the policy, the embargo.''
He added that U.S. foreign policy has a variety of tools at its disposal, including ''political, economic, diplomatic, informational and military components,'' and that some of these may be employed. Asked specifically about the trade sanctions, Reich said that ``we are taking a closer look at the efficiency of our economic sanctions. I don't think we are going to loosen them. Unless we have changes in Cuba, we are not.'' [End Excerpts]