The Economist: Why the US Should Support Taiwan
I'm glad somebody's saying it while a bunch of others seem to be all for throwing Taiwan, its democracy, and its 23 million people under the bus.
But to walk away from Taiwan would in effect mean ceding to China the terms of unification. Over the long run, that will not improve Sino-American relations. Five thousand years of Chinese diplomatic history suggest it is more likely to respect a strong state than a weak and vacillating one. Appeasement would also probably increase China’s appetite for regional domination. Its “core interests” in the area seem to be growing. To Chinese military planners, Taiwan is a potential base from which to push out into the Pacific. At minimum, that would unsettle Japan to the north and the Philippines to the south.
... To abandon Taiwan now would bring out the worst in China, and lead the region’s democracies to worry that America might be willing to let them swing too. That is why, as long as China insists on the right to use force in Taiwan, America should continue to support the island.
Well, DUH!
2 comments:
Three cooperative trends: isolationists who want us to take our collective hand off the hot stove of remote conflicts, internationalists who want to submerge the US in partnerships, and anti-hegemonists (I believe 'hegemonic' is more accurate than 'imperialist') who view any regional actor resisting American interests as right and any regional actor aligned with the US as illegitimate.
It's a competitive world that's only becoming more hungrily competitive towards us, at the same time many Americans are tired of the competition.
The competition never ends, even when people want to give up. Of course, giving up is a sure-fire to lose. The stakes this time around are too high for everyone and for democracy in Asia.
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