Powell backpedals on Taiwan remarks

Seattle Times/Reuters-ComPost ^ | 10-28-04 | None given

[tallhappy]

The voting. Most people from taiwan are there because their ancestors left China in the 16, 17 and 1800's and emigrated there. They were later Annexed by the Ching, then ceded to Japan in 1895. They formed their own Taiwan Republic which lasted a few months until japan took them over. For 50 years they were part of the japanese empire. Chinese took over in late 1945 after Japan lost. China then moved in 1.5 million people after the communists took over China and ran the country.

Now Taiwan is politically free and democratic. It makes as much sense for Taiwan to be part of China as it does for the US to become part of the UK again.

The view that taiwan is Taiwan and China is China has now won elections and will continue.

They want to be their own people, as do Americans, and don't trust China anyhow.

In my opinion this makes sense and is the best thing -- even if China becomes free.

[Fatalis]

If they DIDN'T stop there and went after the United States, they'd have wound up with their fleet at the bottom of the Pacific and their cities in ruins. Wait, that IS what happened, isn't it!

Yah, which contradicts your earlier comment that the "last time the United States acted as Nationalist China's protector (1941) it brought us the attack on Pearl Harbor, involvement in World War 2, and 400,000 dead."

War with Japan happened because Japan wanted war with us, not simply because we were protecting China. President Bush has said that allowing murderous tyrannies that attack their neighbors to go unchecked threatens all of us. That premise is applicable ot Imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s.

[Tailgunner Joe]

You may be right that the people support independence, but the "The KMT insists that the ROC is an independent country," so what is the dispute? What good would a declaration of independence do? How would the U.S. react to such a declaration? I think badly. It could cost Taiwan vital U.S. support.

[tallhappy]

"The KMT insists that the ROC is an independent country," so what is the dispute?

I agree and the President of Taiwan agrees and that is the view I am talking about.

It is the KMT, or Pan-Blue, that keep making some sort of distinction which makes no sense. They are also the ones trying to stop the arms sales. They sound like liberal dems now.

[Tailgunner Joe]

That's funny, I thought their indignance at Powell's remarks reminded me of you.

[Fatalis]

Yamamoto was talking about attacking Pearl Harbor as early as 1940, and formally proposed the attack in January of 1941. It's not accurate to say that without our actions concerning Nationalist China in 1941 that we wouldn't have been attacked.

[Paul_Denton]

The last time the United States acted as Nationalist China's protector (1941) it brought us the attack on Pearl Harbor, involvement in World War 2, and 400,000 dead. You'd think we learned our lesson after that. But in the end Imperial Japan was defeated. If war is the price we must pay for protecting Taiwan then that is a price I am gladly willing to pay. Besides. Just ONE Ohio class submarine has more nuclear throw weight than the entire PRC missile force.