Wandering Monk
Well-Known Member
Pelosi ends Taiwan visit as furious China conducts combat exercises nearby - UPI.com
When the Chinese Communist Revolution ended in 1949, and the government of the People's Republic of China was established on the mainland, the Nationalist Chinese government of Chiang Kai Shek retreated to Taiwan and continued to maintain that they were the true and legitimate government of China. U.S. policy reflected that until the 1970s, when Nixon visited Red China to try to bolster ties and take advantage of the Sino-Soviet split. In order to improve relations with Red China, one condition was that the U.S. had to cease its recognition of Taiwan and recognize the PRC as the true government of China. This raised hackles among anti-communists and was seen by many as the U.S. turning its back on Taiwan.
Now, 50 years later, U.S. policymakers seem to be expressing some measure of regret over decisions made by our government back then.
We didn't do this with South Korea. We didn't suddenly stop recognizing South Korea in favor of North Korea. Nor did we do this with Germany, although we did establish diplomatic relations with East Germany about the same time the reversal on Taiwan/China was taking place (1970s). But that didn't mean we stopped recognizing West Germany.
We also refused to recognize the Communist governments in Vietnam and Cuba for a very long time before finally doing so in 1995 (Vietnam) and 2015 (Cuba). Even then, a lot of people didn't like the fact that our government recognized those Communist regimes and established diplomatic relations.
Has our policy on China been coherent? For more than half a century, the US government touted itself as the "leader of the free world" and defender of capitalism against communism, and yet, when the opportunity for cheap labor and economic gain in China presented itself, they threw their principles and all caution to the four winds and embraced closer trade ties with a communist state. This has benefited China and the position of their government immensely, while the U.S. has faced greater hardship, such as supply chain difficulties, computer chip shortages, as well as severely lagging behind the industrialized world in education, science, technology, industry, and other key areas. This was due to our national leadership being extremely myopic, reckless, and greedy. It was great for the high flyers and quick buck artists, but that was only temporary, and now, we're in a worse situation than we would have been if we had stuck by our principles all along.
Should we close our embassy in Beijing and reopen it in Taipei? Should we have embassies in both countries, or at least try to, even if the PRC doesn't approve? If they don't approve, then it would be totally on them. China is essentially saying that they're still in a state of civil war that supposedly ended more than 70 years ago. Should the U.S. continue to give validation to that peculiar mental state that the Chinese government has been in?
How can we defend democracy elsewhere, but not in Taiwan?