It's time for the public to face facts - TW/US/CN

[dArKeR]

According to the US Department of Defense's annual report to Congress on China's military power, there has been talk in Taiwan about attacking high-value targets in China, such as the Three Gorges Dam, if the nation comes under attack from China. Immediately, some media outlets began to portray this as a suggestion by the US that Taiwan attack, or interpreted it to mean that the nation is actually planning such an attack.

This is of course all very irresponsible and the whole story could not be further from the truth. This is not to mention that the story has created unnecessary anxiety in Taiwan.

It is imperative to point out that Taiwan could not possibly make a first strike against China in any event. If it did, it would lose all international support, in particular that of the US, which is the lifeline onto which it has been hanging in the face of increasing Chinese threats. Even talk of enhancing Taiwan's sovereignty or adopting a new constitution has triggered pressure from the US, which has repeatedly emphasized that the US is obligated under the Taiwan Relations Act only to help Taiwan in its self-defense, not in other situations; so it is not hard to imagine what would happen if Taiwan made a first strike. Under the circumstances, it is completely erroneous to depict Taiwan as planning such an attack or the US as suggesting such a thing.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/06/11/2003174618

[struggle4progress]

1. Yeah, this Administration has all the diplomatic sensitivity ...

of a warthog.

[teryang]

2. The situation in East Asia is highly unstable

...right now because the American junta doesn't have a forward looking policy. There is really no attempt to come to grips with the changes in the relative balance of power. Part of the reason our influence is slipping is the drain of the Iraq conflict. The second reason is that our present regime is reactionary and indifferent to change.

Taiwan and Korea need to carry out their own commercial, cultural, and foriegn policy initiatives independent of the American military government, to minimize the utility of counterproductive brinkmanship.