Interesting that a Marine would suggest such a Chamberlain-like or Joe Kennedy Sr. type of appeasement policy purely for financial reasons. :no-no: Sell out your friends/allies for money? What kind of message would that sent out to the world?
Why not go one step further? How about simply granting all disputed territories and territorial ambitions, including Vietnam, to China. Or how about just giving Spain and Hungary back to the Muslims, and large parts of eastern Europe back to the Russians?
Does he seriously think China would even consider that. They’d get a good laugh out if it; I wish I could. Piece of shit rag.
Well that’s one way, another would be to get China to pay back the debt it chose not to pay back several decades before. China’s Debt Default….To US Investors
Anyway, China would never go for the deal, they want Taiwan to be a part of China and the trillion dollars doesn’t guarantee that. The US won’t get dragged into a war if Taiwan suddenly declares independence, the US has made it clear it does not support any unilateral changes to the status quo and would excuse themselves. China knows that.
Nor do I believe does China want to use force, especially with everything going so swimmingly with the Ma administration. Besides even if the US doesn’t provide arms, who is to say Taiwan can’t buy from someone else? And this author thinks.
Sorry the author is a twit and hasn’t a clue what they are talking about. I mean I can see from the US perspective why those things would be nice, but even if China could do all those things which is unlikely, why would they, where is this sudden pressure for them to stop trading and exert moderating influence coming from.
Funny how a guy who dedicated his life to fight for the ideals of freedom and democracy would spit in the face of it for a bit of debt relief.
There are many sad signs here:
-US overseas efforts are at their heart strictly for economic gain.
-Freedom and Democracy pale in comparison to the relative health of an economy.
Sell out your entire belief system for relief on 11% of your debt.
Pathetic
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]Funny how a guy who dedicated his life to fight for the ideals of freedom and democracy would spit in the face of it for a bit of debt relief.
There are many sad signs here:
-US overseas efforts are at their heart strictly for economic gain.
-Freedom and Democracy pale in comparison to the relative health of an economy.
Sell out your entire belief system for relief on 11% of your debt.
Pathetic[/quote]
Yeah, how dare the US care more about it’s own interest than about another country. But this really isn’t a surprise. Many times the US has toppled democracies and supported authoritarian governments because it serves the US’ interest. Been doing that for a long time now.
This isn’t news to you is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions
What I don’t understand is why McCullen said the debt is our “greatest national security threat”.
Oh please.
Strange call about Taiwan since its even possible Taiwan is a net contributor to the whole defense arrangement. What about Japan, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, the 10 odd aircraft carriers floating around, missile defense shields…I think we got a paid shill here folks.
you know, whenever I hear or see someone say this, I find it incredibly annoying. first, can someone please tell me how taiwan isn’t already independent when she’s been self-ruling for at least half a century now?? second, both dpp AND kmt presidents and administrations have said publicly to international media over and over again in more ways than one that taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation and state, etc. case in point:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021702176.html.[quote]Taiwan “is a sovereign state,” Ma said in an interview at the presidential palace here. “While we negotiate with the mainland, we hope to carry out such talks with sufficient self-defense capabilities and not negotiate out of fear.”[/quote]
and here, where ma ying jeou says to the international media “we are an independent country with full sovereignty”:
that’s the president of taiwan saying TAIWAN IS INDEPENDENT. if that’s not a public declaration of independence, then what exactly is?? so why hasn’t china invaded yet?? what does taiwan have to do EXACTLY to declare independence in order to get china to invade?? do they have to fill out and sign an official document like a declaration of independence and have it stamped with a notary public by the post office in taiwan or china as a witness or something? somebody please answer because i really would like to know!
Its pretty simple, really. China doesn’t much mind the ROC claiming to be an independent nation. But, I think China would look much differently at the authorities in Taiwan changing the name from ROC to ROT.
i dont think taiwan even needs to officially change her name to “republic of taiwan” as just taiwan is suffice and she is already called taiwan by everyone around the world. japan is not “republic of japan”, there’s no “republic of spain” or “republic of germany”. it’s all semantics. taiwanese already refer to herself as “taiwan”. people around the world already call taiwan “taiwan”. even the chinese call taiwan “taiwan”. hardly anybody calls taiwan “republic of china”. im sure in taiwan’s constitution it uses the name “taiwan” even if officially she’s called “republic of china”.
i dont see how it matters what taiwan is officially called as long as the country is functioning as an independent sovereign country which it has been for decades now. so what’s in a name?
Good question, everything and nothing!
It amazes me that a supposed sholar of Asia studies/China does not understand that when one bows to China, China kicks one in the butt. Let me rephrase that: everytime any foreign country -Japan, US, Vietnam, Filipinas, to name a recent few examples- has deferred to China and done as she wishes, the response, instead of favorable, has been to shot/kill/destroy/maim someone/something that belongs to the appeasing part. Meaning China cannot be appeased. China needs to show who’s on top, and will kick any dog who rolls over/plays dead. When they show the tummy, it rips up their guts.
So if US gives over Taiwan, expect China to sell off the remaining US bonds and dump its investments just to see them squeal. And then it will tight the noose some more…
[quote=“Lili”]What I don’t understand is why McCullen said the debt is our “greatest national security threat”.
Oh please.[/quote]
You need to find out what that debt actually means then.
There are at least two issues. The first, and less likely is that as Afghanistan was the U.S.S.R.'s Vietnam (or as Iraq and Afghanistan are the U.S.'s Vietnam II and Vietnam III), Taiwan could be the U.S.'s Suez. (Read up on the Suez Crisis if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) Obviously, having that hanging over your head is a national security threat. Any pretenses of empire pretty much vanished after Suez and all bets were off. Does anyone regard the U.K. as a military power these days?
The second, and pretty much inevitable, is that as the debt grows, that means an ever larger portion of the budget goes to servicing that debt. At some point, the debt needs to be addressed or it gets defaulted on. Either way, there’s no longer the same kind of military spending and so it’s a kind of surrogate and compulsory military scale down, and that’s obviously a national secutity threat.
Debts should be everyones security threat whether ur single or have a family. When u can’t afford to spend money on bills and life expenses cuz u have no money, you’re screwed! So why shouldn’t that apply to a nation?
I don’t think iraq should be considered a vietnam because u.s. lost vietnam. They didn’t lose iraq. We kickedthe dictator out and replaced the govt. And I was against iraq war, btw.
Sure, you voted for Obama instead in 2008, but what does that have to do with Iraq? 
Sure, you voted for Obama instead in 2008, but what does that have to do with Iraq? [/quote]
huh?
you know, whenever I hear or see someone say this, I find it incredibly annoying. first, can someone please tell me how taiwan isn’t already independent when she’s been self-ruling for at least half a century now?? [/quote]
Taiwan enjoys de facto independence, but not de jure independence. Tigerman points out one area that will upset China which is the official name change, another would be to rewrite the constitution which currently says Taiwan is a part of China. ECFA was just signed it seems not on a country to country basis but under the so called 1992 consensus, where everyone agrees there is one China.
Taiwan is not a part of the UN, Taiwan has to use the name Chinese Taipei when competing and is not allowed to use its own flag. Taiwan is not free as other independent countries are to participate in other world bodies.
Of course changing the countries name and constitution wouldn’t automatically mean other countries would recognize Taiwan. But that, combined with continued pressuring of UN and other world bodies to clearly state Taiwan is a free and independent nation and deserves the same rights as all other countries wouldn’t happen overnight. As was the case when Chen Sui Bian was in power and especially as he did things like get rid of the National Unification Council (which he said he wouldn’t in his one if and 5 nos list) and then started to rename national organizations like the post office. (Im not going to go into if it was right or wrong).
Then you see an angrier and angrier China, and the US to begin distancing themselves while reminding Taiwan that they do not agree with one side unilaterally changing the status quo. In my mind if the following scenario played out, I think the USA would excuse itself of its obligation to protect Taiwan under the guise of Taiwan trying to unilaterally change the status quo.
Pretty hard to justify going into Iraq or Afghanistan or bomb the shit out of Libya, all in the name of bringing democracy to those places when Taiwan already has it and no one gives a shit about them. Amazing hypocrisy.
yup. EXTREME HYPOCRISY!! :fume: u.s. also refuses to recognize cuba yet bends over backwards to placate commie china in more ways than one. all at the expense of democratic taiwan!! good ole american foreign policy. :bluemad:
i think people do give a shit. it’s just that they give a bigger shit when china throws a shit tantrum if people start to give a shit about taiwan. sad…
but you can see more and more people and countries getting pissed at china throwing her nationalism around, not abiding wto rules like devaluing her currency, govt. protecting domestic markets/industries by not allowing foreign competition, bossing around other countries over various issues, picking fights and starting territorial disputes, etc., etc., etc. i think more people around the world are sympathizing with taiwan.