Whole lot of rumbles from China lately over Taiwan...Wonder why now? Any thoughts?

-- Alice (Looking@glass.com), February 22, 2000

Answers

Alice,

Just keep your red slipers, They may come in handy.

-- tonto (yellowbrick@road.com), February 22, 2000.

china is upset because Congress has just passed legislation to support taiwan's security. the legislation is not a treaty. i believe it only amounts to a hint of support.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), February 22, 2000.

Politics.

Taiwan elections are March 18, 2000. Last election in 1996 China fired some warning missles and US carrier group was dispatched to the straits off Taiwan. Since 1996, China has added much military build- up including ownership of two ex-Russian Soverenmy class aircraft carrier destroyers.

USA elections are November 7. By 2001 inauguration, China may be right to expect new US President to be less accommodating than their current man in the White House.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 22, 2000.

Interesting strategic analysis of China:

http://www.stratfor.com/asia/countries/china/chinapackage/uneasycrackd own1.htm

-- nabi (nabi7@yahoo.com), February 22, 2000.

Should we be?...HELL YES!

To let the Chinese govt. get away with annexing Taiwan would be a great encouragement for them to proceed as they see fit everywhere.

These are the same folks who recently started publicly mulling over the concept of unlimited/unconventional war....I believe to scare and "cow" other nations. We do know they have extensive germ warfare capability, nuclear weapons and delivery systems. One of their generals recently commented that the United States "would not be willing to trade Taiwan for San Diego". I don't think this is the time to be giving the chinese mixed signals...they should know that we will stiffly oppose any hostile action on their part and that there would be serious and swift repercussions.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), February 22, 2000.

For a quick look at both sides....

http://www.emeraldesigns.com/matchup/military.shtml

-- Casper (c@no.yr), February 22, 2000.

I have very mixed feelings about the whole China-Taiwan-USA relationship. The whole delicate balance has been maintained for 25 years based on the "one China" policy.

What that means is the Chinese government claims Taiwan is merely a province of theirs that has temporarily strayed from the fold and will return someday. Taiwan claims that it is the sole government of China, temporarily displaced to Taiwan, but someday they will return and put things right. So, the magic formula is for the USA to say "we agree that there can only be one China and one government", then we dodge the question of who governs whom.

This convenient fiction appeared to satisfy both sides until recently. Last summer, the President of Taiwan floated a trial balloon. He gave a speech that said that Taiwan was a separate state from China. All hell broke loose. The convenient fiction was challenged.

Taiwan isn't strong enough to resist Chinese invasion on their own. They need to hide behind our armed forces. The trouble is, they didn't ask us what WE thought before they thumbed their noses at China. Now they want the USA to pull their chestnuts out of the fire.

I don't like the idea of having client states like Taiwan. I like it even less when they presume on the relationship to pick our fights for us. I like it even less when the fight is unnecessary and will leave us worse off than we were before the fight began.

If they drag us into a war with China, what the heck is in it for us, besides an oversupply of dead young men?

It would be very convenient if Taiwan could just be given back, a'la Hong Kong. Barring that, we could cut them adrift and see how well they can swim without Big Brother holding them up.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), February 22, 2000.

Brian,You are absolutely right.We have another Limburger like that floating around in the Middle East.

-- Watching (not@important.ever), February 22, 2000.

Brian, that makes more sense than anything else I have read. Next issue would be, what to do about it! As if our opinions would matter anyway.

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 22, 2000.

The differences between China and Taiwan stem from the bloody civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists back in the 20's and carried through into the Post-WWII environment - Anyway, without getting too deep into the history of the Chinese civil war, America backed the Nationalist camp headed by Chiang Kai-Shek (spelling may be off), while the Communist camp was supported by the USSR - China has since resented any interference into her territory and wishes the barbarian capitalists out - America, because we have to support our friends and allies, made treaties with Taiwan establishing a formal tie with the Republic - Well, China has been aggravated with the USA ever since - Hence, Korea, Mao's "Paper Tiger" accusations etc. - I cannot really blame China for their stance - It would be like China occupying Hawaii and then engaging them in making treaties against USA interests -

-- Bob (bmoss3@prodigy.net), February 22, 2000.

We should support peace talks for gradual re-unification under a pluralistic political system with guarantees on human rights. We don't need to be giving them MFN status, yet, but student and cultural exchanges should be encouraged.

While I don't like the idea of being too cozy with a Marxist-Leninist- Maoist state, I don't like the idea of being allied with one of its tiny enemies. Taiwan should and can defend itself. If invaded, they would give the reds a long, hard, brutal fight in the mountains and hills, guerilla style. We wouldn't have to join them.

The fact of the matter is that we could not win against China in a war over Taiwan. They'd send a few of nukes high over our bases in Hawaii, Japan, and the Phillippines, knocking out all electronics with EMP. They'd also wipe out our aircraft carrier battle groups with shorter- range tactical nukes. They'd sabotage a lot of stuff domestically and take down every major power grid and communications network. This would all be quite easy. We might choose to stay in the fight for awhile, but it would have to amount to a mobilization effort akin to world war II since we would have lost most of our ability to project naval or air power. I sincerely doubt that many mothers would want to send tens of thousands of their sons to their deaths over that issue.

-- jon carson (joncarson@yahoo.com), February 22, 2000.

These are very interesting views. Hope You all can support the freedom right of the Taiwan people. Thanks.

-- Tim (vip2047@yahoo.com), February 26, 2000.