Its an old article, but should Taiwan expect anything less from the West?
Trump has no real ethical concerns, we are all pieces of real estate to trade.
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OK here goes, first political post on here in defence of the democratically elected President of the United States.
Trump has done something Obama never did regarding the goons in Beijing: surprised them and scared the hell out of them. And he has done it on multiple occasions.
Cases in point
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Tweet out that he may not feel bound by the One China Policy. (After all, if we go along with the charade that Taiwan is not a real country in the name of peace, there is no point in doing this if the PRC is actively threatening peace and unilaterally altering the status quo in the South China Sea). Nobody saw that coming. Beijing was stunned.
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Had a chat with Tsai Ing-wen on the phone. First US President (albeit elect) to speak directly to a Taiwanese leader since Jimmy Carter, I think. Huge.
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After the meltdown on the mainland, a lot of hysteria tempered with the reality that the communist billionaires do not actually want a war threatening their cushy international lifestyles, Trump does a great “sorry-not-sorry” apology in which he then publicly acknowledges Tsai as the President of Taiwan. Again, not done since Carter.
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China snatches a US Navy drone out of the water in Philippine territorial waters, right in front of the US Navy possibly to “send a message” to Trump. While Obama was busy trying to hush up this latest nasty slap in the face he has taken from Beijing and trying to appease them again in the hope it will go away without further provocations (as he always did with the PRC) Trump tweets out that we should let them keep the drone. A spelling mistake (deliberate or otherwise) means the media can’t contain their glee in correcting Trump and it’s first page news across the West’s smug papers of record… and middle America suddenly learns the Chinese feel emboldened enough to give the finger directly to US military in the waters of an ally and steal its property. Americans don’t like this at all. And it became a much bigger deal overnight - a bigger deal than the Chinese thought it would be.
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PRC media has been all over the place on Trump, from scoffing at him, to insisting he should be tolerated as a big baby to hysterically angry denunciations. They are now demanding that their papers follow close control in their messaging when talking about Trump. It was an example of the PRC leadership looking rattled and unsure how to get their messaging right (like they did during their stock market crash of 2015). Contrast this with the relatively free reign given to China’s media to idly insult and characterise Obama as they pleased.
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The biggest one: as Xi Jinping is finishing his chocolate cake at Mar-A-Lago, Trump tells him “I just bombed Syria”. Xi’s reaction was to do nothing at all for 10 seconds and then ask for his translator to repeat what had just been said. Then Xi mumbled some general platitudes about supporting action. This huge news was barely reported in Chinese media, as they well understand the significance. Long story short: the top commie was a long way from home and shitting his pants.
Seems Xi has since calmed down a bit and got his nerve back, realising that Trump got the better of him - bigly. And Trump is suddenly conciliatory and praising him (while repeating that North Korea’s provocations are disrespectful to Xi personally) because, after all, we don’t want a war either.
The thing that SJW types never seem to understand about Trump is that he’s not flip-flopping or about-facing; he’s negotiating like a businessman which is exactly what the US needs in its leadership. For example, you want X so you aggressively demand X and Y. The other side insists that you can not have X and Y - are you crazy?! - and eventually concede that you only get X as you tell them “ohh you guys are so tough and smart, I knew I wouldn’t be able to put one over you”.
So he flirted with the idea of renouncing the One China Policy, simply to show the mainland thugs that 1. he’s not afraid of them, 2. they can’t predict what he’ll do and 3. he is serious about ending their provocations in the South China Sea. It worked. Shame more people don’t understand it.
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Did ya read the article? Are you familiar with the Weekly Standard? Hardly a “SJW” rag.
Trump “tales tough” on China because that’s populism. Part of his “America First” nonsense, that he quickly abandons, given the time and place. The phone call with Thai was completely orchestrated by the Heritage Foundation. They are more anti-China -for its stance on religion, than pro-Taiwan.
Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Trump all talked tough with Beijing. Until Beijing put her pretty economic dress on and wiggled her RMB booty in their face. The tone changed.
If Trump is as serious about China, as you seem to believe he is, the. He will land Air Force One at Songshan Airport and meet personally, and publically with President Tsai.
I guarantee you, that will never ever happen. At least as long as Trumps clothing, and his daughter’s clothing are made in China.
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In regards to Taiwan, Trump was so far just following whoever whispers in his ear at the moment.
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China knows he is unpredictable no matter what he says. They will just ride it out.
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Trump should not be using Taiwan people (my friends and lately my home) as a pawn. And should not be tossing around the lives and livelihood of South Koreans for that matter.
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The last significant sale of an offensive capability was F-16s by another republican Bush. Let’ see if Trump coughs up something even close.
[quote=“Jieke, post:3, topic:160837, full:true”]
bigly[/quote]
*big league 
I know this answer! He won’t!
Hi again all,
Been busy so only just checked back.
The article’s title and the blurb are both totally inane so I didn’t bother reading it. I’ve since glanced at it and I was right. As for the supposed reputation of the journal, well don’t be blinded by that. CNN used to have a reputation and were the guys who filmed Tank Man, I think, but now they’re rather well summed up by this image:
As for the “call was orchestrated”, I honestly think it is ridiculous that people keep talking about Trump as if he is an idiot who doesn’t understand what he’s doing. What more could he have done to prove he’s not? He turned a Queens property company in to a multibillion international empire then ran for President in the most powerful country in the world with the establishment factions of both major parties and the entire mainstream media railing against him every day and looking to undermine him at every opportunity - AND WON. The idea that he could do all of that shows the man is no dummy. Doesn’t look like a guy who can be easily manipulated by political hacks to me. He’s not an idiot at all - the man is a genius.
As for landing Air Force One in Taipei, that’s just an unreasonable scenario you’ve laid out there. “Unless Trump does a completely crazy thing and blows himself up, he is betraying his support and all of them look stupid”. Just doesn’t wash, I’m afraid. We’re not about to recognise Taiwan without anything extreme happening first. The point is not to go to war with the PRC; it’s to remind them to stop being so damn provocative.
And a lot of people get clothes made in China. Trump’s personal wealth has dropped a billion since he ran for President [Forbes] so it’s just disingenuous to pretend he’s doing what he’s doing for the money.
As for that point of supposedly using Taiwan as pawns in a game or whatever, that doesn’t make sense either because you’re basically arguing “we must indefinitely appease an extremely aggressive and extremely ambitious communist police state”. That was basically what Obama did and therefore it is perfectly logical that Beijing held him in such contempt and built all those South China Sea airstrips while Obama gave them some stern lectures in response. But if you want to remain free, you have to actually stand up for it at some point.
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Taiwan has been a pawn of the US since the Chinese civil war. That’s the reason the ROC still exists as a separate entity. Long may it continue to be a pawn, because the other result is a communist province - better dead than red.
Logically one would assume the administration gets tired of waiting for china to take serious action on NK and does an about-face. But we’ll see.