Since the United Nations is supposed to provide a voice for all nations, I see no basis other than China's objections as to why Taiwan is locked out of the U.N. I also think it is time for the U.S. to recognize Taiwan as independent and self-governing nation.
Over the years, American foreign policy has taken several unrealistic approaches in regard to China and Taiwan. For more than 20 years following the communist revolution in China, we had a "one China" policy pretending that a nationalist exile regime based in Taiwan was the legitimate government of the Chinese mainland. In the early 70's, the U.S. adopted the asurdity of a "Two China" policy and then soon shifted to another "One China" approach favoring the mainland Chinese government.
The U.S. should recognize that while there is only one China that Taiwan is a soverign nation which has been separate from mainland China for over 50 years. Americans across the political spectrum should support the human rights of the people of Taiwan by supporting their continued independence despite the threats from mainland China.
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6 comments:
Right now America's government and business interests are so intertwined with China that recognizing Taiwan as an independent nation is politically impossible.
Also there is the problem that such a recognition could lead to war.
I agree that recognition of Taiwan is an unlikely scenario due to the power of big business interests and diplomatic fears of angering the Chinese government.
War with China is obviously an unpleasant prospect. I am not suggesting that we should intervene militarily even if Taiwan is invaded by forces from the mainland. At the same time, I do not feel that we should pander to China and allow their economic influence and potential military strength to define our foreign policy.
I am not against trading with China but it should be a two way street. We are importing far too much from China and exporting few goods to the Chinese. Our limited
exports to China have unfortunately included items that are potentially defense related.
Japan should be encouraged to re-militarize to help balance the power of China in Asia. At some point, the rest of the world is going to have to stand up to China's growing economic and military might.
I really don't think now is the time to recognize Taiwan. This whole situation was caused by our Foreign Affairs short-sightedness and it cannot be fixed by a gesture like this. I think we should go against standard American hubris and not do anything like this. Let the UN start to take action on this. It's time that we bolster them a little bit. They need incentive to make reform and defining them as the world police is a good place to start.
Right Democrat is right on China and Taiwan. It seems we got in bed with Communist China without giving it much thought. If I remember my history, Jimmy Carter cancelled our treaty with Taiwan. I still wonder why that was important.
On another issue, our trade policy with China is goofy. Let me see if I have this right. We export our jobs to China. Then, we close our plants in America so displaced workers can work at a hamburger joint for half the salary and no benefits.
Then, we tell our American workers that it is their own fault. We cannot compete because we do not have the skills and education. However, the Communist Chinese workers are doing the same job on the same machines. But, they are only making a faction of the pay an American workers makes. Most Americans have already figured this con job out.
My goodness, America can do better than this. Take care.
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