Be strong or be gone. America must choose one of these two options in East Asia.
China insists.
Let’s note at the outset that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not “directly” threaten to shoot down House Speaker Pelosi’s plane on her possible upcoming visit to democratic and free Taiwan. That friendly suggestion was instead offered by a columnist for the “state-run” Global Times.
On Twitter.
Which, incidentally, is banned in China.
That being said, the totalitarians are indeed “bad folks.” In addition to continually threatening the invasion of Taiwan, they’re known to rough up defenseless old folks. For instance, browbeating 79-year-old President Joe Biden last week in a multi-hour phone call, in which, according to a Chinese foreign ministry read-out, Xi Jinping warned our president about standing with Taiwan: “Those who play with fire will perish by it.”
While no one in his right mind wants war with the Dragon, to avoid war with fear and cowardice may ultimately require ceding the world’s greatest democratic success story, Taiwan (the Republic of China), to the genocidal (and misnamed) People’s Republic of China.
Our cowardly leaders might opt to shut up and look the other way — especially if there is payola attached — but not the rest of us.
Should the United States tangle with a nuclear power over Taiwan?
Isn’t that like asking whether we should go to war over my mother or yours? Or your spouse … or your son or daughter?
Is one person — or a small nation of 24 million souls — worth such a risk?
When the Dragon demands a sacrifice, recognize it for what it is.
If one person, recognize it once.
If a nation, recognize it 24 million times.
Resist the Dragon.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Note: As I point out in last weekend’s podcast, Taiwan can successfully repel a Chinese invasion, especially with U.S. and Japanese assistance. And here, Ian Easton, author of The Chinese Invasion Threat, speaks to the issue.
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2 replies on “Fight or Flight?”
I expect that some responses — if not here then on Facebook — will again be as if which territorial lines are to be defended is obvious, despite their ultimately imaginary nature.
As for me, I don’t see that it is any more or less obvious whether the US should defend the Taiwanese than whether the US should defend the Californians or the people of Maine.
I don’t at all mean to claim that the US should not defend those within the territory that it claims as its own. I don’t mean to claim that it should not defend anyone outside that territory. I simply insist that the answers are not obvious and that no one should just beg the g_dd_mn’d question as we discuss it.
Should the United States tangle with a nuclear power over Taiwan?
Why not ask: Should the CCP threaten a nuclear power that is also one of its largest customers over “a small nation with 24 million souls”?
The US may have a ‘one China’ policy (we don’t have diplomatic relations with Taiwan) but we also have the Taiwan Relations Act, which commits the US to act to preserve the human rights of the people of Taiwan and to provide whatever articles are necessary to allow them to maintain a sufficient self-defense. There are other facets of the TRA which effectively treat the island as a separate and independent nation.