Finally someone speaking out for the truth, let me quote here: [quote]“Our current one-China policy is a fiction,” Tancredo said. “Taiwan is a free, sovereign and independent country that elects its own leaders. It is not, nor has it ever been, a local government of Communist China, and everyone knows that.”[/quote]
A bipartisan resolution has been introduced in Congress demanding the resumption of diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
I know this bill is going to go nowhere fast … but just out of interest, what would happen if the US did officially recognise Taiwan? What could China do? I’m sure it wouldn’t help cross-strait relations, or China-US relations - but I don’t see what practical steps China could take …
China’s not terribly well known for taking practical steps. It’s the outrageous steps I’d be more worried about, as they have a long history of taking those.
Who cares about Taiwan China relations. China is consistently ruins this on their own, by diplomatically embarassing Taiwan on a daily basis.
US China relations are headed towards an imminent military standoff as China continues to challenge US dominance. For the US military it is good strategy to have a friendly military base in Taiwan to use for bombing raids over China.
Just as the article mentions, I think that this is a negotiating chip in its case against the impending China domestic secession law for the US to use.
Very good news indeed. Even though there’s not a hope in Hades that anything will come of it (this time around), it’s high time that this particular discussion started. Taiwan needs to be in the public consciousness the way Tibet is, and the way South Africa was during apartheid. Once hoi polloi are aware of Taiwan and its political/diplomatic environment, people can start making their own judgements about the situation. But without basic awareness, there can’t even be a discussion, so this is definitely a positive step.
good facts, well, the u.s. carrier is near the straits so the u.s. might build a military base in taiwan, so china will be scared and taiwanese people will be happy
Just goes to show the power of campaign contributions on US politicians. Unfortunately, China can now afford to buy as many US politicians as Taiwan can, so it will balance out.
America doesn’t need Taiwan for a military base, they already have strategic air wings in Okinawa and Korea and a carrier fleet based in Japan. (Also long range bombers in Diego Garcia and Guam and probably a nuke sub or two sitting in Shanghai harbor and new airbases in russia’s former states) Taiwan’s importance is that it sits on the sea lanes for oil shipments to China.
Aircraft carriers are losing their value quickly due to the leathal, unstoppable capiblitity of the russian made Sunburn22 and SS-NX-26 mach 2.5 Yakhonts missles that china (and Iran) have.
The biggest issue that the usa faces in regards to China is that china will stop buying US treasury bonds (and fannie mae/freddie macs) to keep the US from going bankrupt. This is also one of the reasons why the US in indebted to protect Japan. China may also decide to join the trend of purchasing oil in euros (or yuan/yen) instead of dollars from russia, venezula and iran to further destroy the value of the greenback.
Great idea though, if China proclaims a NRL (national reunification law), then US should recognize Taiwan (again). The only other solution is if China proclaims a NRL, the USA should nationalize Walmart and Target, then only purchase/sell goods made anywhere but China. (ABC). Maybe only buy goods from purchasing offices based in Taiwan. (its a joke, ok, dont ride me on this).
Yeah, pressure groups are part of the “democracy” system in the USA. But its not much of a democracy if you think about it, when the system can be abused like this.
Perhaps you should re-read the definition of a Representative Republic, That will giuve you a more concise understanding of the United States governmental system. It is not a democracy.
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule. Somewhat akin to the present day Taiwanese system.
Lobbyists are, unfortunately, a part of the US system. However, transparency and accountability are also part and parcel of the system.
What you may chose to define as ‘abuse’, may be interpreted by others as normal functionality. It depends on where one stands and whose ox is being gored.
I don’t think it is that simple. There is a pretty famous case of about Indian tribes being blicked out of millions by casino lobbyist representing interest of two conflicting parties. Yet nothing illegal was done.
In other words, the lobbying system is no different than the PRC or ROC system of influencing politicians.
‘one china policy’ and ‘one country two systems’ and ‘peaceful reunification by force if necessary’ are oxymorons. But here on the mainland this propaganda has been hammered so deep into the minds of the mainlanders that they believe it, nay would even die for it. But if you ask anyone what it really means, they haven’t a clue. The reason they get so “emotional” about this issue is because they don’t know what to do about the USA.
Does anybody really think the US is just going to sit back and watch a communist regime take over a democracy? Consult history. Mao tried it several times and Truman and Eisenhour sent battleships into the straits.
Beijing says that this issue means more than the olympics. Get real. The government has spent billions with a ‘B’ on getting Beijing ready. If nobody shows up out of protest, it would spell the end of the communist regime.
We all know money plays a role in US politics, but why do you all just assume he was bribed or received a “contribution” to say it? Some people, including Congressmen, do actually have opinions on certain issues. And believe it or not, Taiwan does actually have friends in Congress. Quite a few actually. Not enough to secure a resumption of diplomatic relations of course. But then again, China, despite more money, doesn’t have nearly enough to buy a repeal of the Taiwan Relations Act either.
Money plays a role, surely, but there is quite often MORE to US politics than money.
