I love it!
Posted on 09/23/2002 11:10:07 PM PDT by HAL9000
U.S. makes history with gestures to Taiwan that some worry might provoke the red dragon - China
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sep 24, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Behind a tall security wall in a quiet courtyard, U.S. officials did something this month that they haven't done for 23 years at the main American office in Taiwan: raise the U.S. flag.
History was made again this week as a Taiwanese president's wife visited Washington for the first time in more than a half century.
Although the two events were largely symbolic, they thrilled many in Taiwan who saw them as examples of how Washington is giving this Asian democracy and global trading power the respect it deserves.
Now, they're hoping America will become even bolder and invite the Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to the White House. It would be the first such visit since 1979 when the United States cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, recognized rival China and began shunning official relations with the island. The U.S. embassy's name was changed to the unofficial-sounding American Institute in Taiwan.
Beijing insists that all its diplomatic allies break official ties with Taiwan because Chinese leaders consider the self-ruled island to be part of the communist mainland. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949.
Washington was so careful not to offend prickly China that U.S. officials removed Old Glory and even the flag pole in the embassy's courtyard in Taipei the day before America established formal ties with Communist China. The pole was finally reinstalled for the flag raising during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The recent series of symbolic gestures - which also included a rare visit to the Pentagon this month by Taiwan's vice defense minister - is worrying some China watchers.
Two Washington think tanks - the Atlantic Council of the United States and the Nixon Center - have warned in recent policy papers that the United States might needlessly antagonize China by indulging in symbolic gestures with Taiwan.
Taiwanese opposition lawmaker John Hsiao-yen Chang agrees the United States and Taiwan could be poking the big red dragon a bit too hard.
The legislator with the pro-unification Nationalist Party believes China is serious about its long-standing threat to attack Taiwan if the island seeks a permanent split. Such a conflict could quickly involve the United States, which has warned Beijing before that U.S. forces might protect the island.
Although China hasn't protested the first lady's trip, the flag raising and other recent gestures, Chang doubts they will be forgotten in China.
"Mainland China will put all these incremental moves toward independence on the table," Chang said. "One day in the future, they will probably settle the account."
But political scientist Lo Chih-cheng doesn't view the flag raising and the first lady's Washington trip to be provocative. He views them to be examples of how America is toning down its hypersensitivity to Beijing's protests. Lo thinks America should go further and hold ministerial talks about trade issues with Taiwan - the eighth-largest U.S. trading partner.
"We should normalize issues that aren't so sensitive," said Lo, executive director of the Institute for National Policy Research, a Taipei think tank close to the government.
But allowing the Taiwanese president to visit Washington might be too risky, said Ed Friedman, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
"An official visit by President Chen would spark a demand for military action against Taiwan and for a serious downgrading of relations with Washington," he said.
Friedman added that Taiwan should not overemphasize its relations with America at the expense of its relationship with other important countries, such as Japan, Australia and Southeast Asian nations.
"Moves should not be taken to alienate those parties in Asia," he said.
But the symbolic events and gestures could serve a useful purpose for U.S.-Taiwan relations, said Dan Lynch, a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California. The symbolic support could calm down pro-independence groups that have become increasingly vocal and provocative to China because they fear the world is ignoring Taiwan.
"I think the U.S. should do more to support Taiwan symbolically because it's a low-cost way to reassure the Taiwanese nationalists that the U.S. backs them up," Lynch said. "Secure in this knowledge, they should then face less incentive to behave provocatively."
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
I love it!
Time to recognize Taiwan and end diplomatic fiction.
What's funny is Jiang Zemin is going to Crawford with a list of demands to President Bush about Taiwan.
Demands. They are delusional.
I wonder if either of these snooty institutions were as concerned when China threatened Taiwan every time Taiwan had an election?
Certainly Nixon center is not non-partison.
You've provided info to make that perfectly clear -- although their ideas, analyses and policy reccommendations make it apparent.
Bush has moved to arm Taiwan in unprecedented fashion.
The U.S. is now providing weapons for Japan.
Bush labelled North Korea part of an axis of evil.
With Iran and Iraq, it geographically brackets China, the Anus of Evil.
But the tap dancers in the higher pay grades can dis a country without spelling it out.
traitorrapist42 took money from the PRC through Riady (John Huang anyone?), Johnny Chung and that Gen. Ji Shingde, Lt. Col. Watta Hoshewuz from ChinaAerospace, et al.
put-some-ice-on-it had Gen. Xiong Guangkai to the White House January 24-26, 2000 to reestablish military-to-military relationships.
Bill the Chancre also went all whipped-puppy when noodle-boy Yah Lin Trie gave him the Dear President letter in 1996.
But it will be a different barbecue down in Crawford.
Jiang will leave with his list of demands crumpled in his hand.
This ain't no disco--this ain't Nixon-Kissinger '72; this ain't Billy Peckerhead '79.
Taiwan is our friend.
Zhu Be-nice!
Comprende, amigo?
Remember that P-3 Orion ? Payback is a b*tch
Heh, cornering a Texan on his land and 'making demands' is a sure fire invite to a fight.
What you said. I'm sick of hearing that we have to ostracize Taiwan for wanting a free society, in order to appease the thugs, tyrants, and murderers in Beijing.
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