"There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent." Wow. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_re_as/taiwan_us_china_1
Whoa that is really weird and out of the blue I vaguely remember the current administration being in another row with the Taiwanese a couple years ago... but can't remember what that was about anymore...
The current administration likes working with totalitarian, rigged market governments. Hence they prefer of China, Russia and Saudi Arabia over democracies like Taiwan. Birds of a feather....
They must have taken (Quaa)Ludahai away in the middle of the night. Otherwise, he'd be on this thread already.
That's gotta be misquote. I mean, the notion that a week from an election, Powell would take the Bushies off message, either cuz he was authorized to say this, or cuz he wanted to say it himself, is incontheivable. Honestly, I'll be surprised if this story doesn't change and it's a misquote.
That's what I thought also. But the article says the quote I posted is from a State Department transcript so I don't think it was translated into Chinese then translated back to English and somehow got to that point.
Powell said, "There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy." Which part of his sentence was not true? He was speaking of the facts and that speech has nothing to do with hating democracy. Why do you guys think Taiwan is independent? Because it has elections?
Doesn't it seem inconsistent to sell weapons to a non-independent segment of a nation? Our policy is one of official ambiguity - the un-nuanced statement by Powell is going to have consequences.
Yeah, that ones a bomb. I dont think youd find the Taiwanese particularly keen on that comment. Jesus. Thats a mind blowing quote.
Powell may or may not like democracy. Who knows? But starting next January when he needs a new job, he will definitely like huge consultanting fees from companies looking to sell things (or more likely services) to the Chicoms.
It would be even more cynical if I spelled "consulting" right. Shenhua must have been thrown into a Prison Labor Camp for spending too much time on a message board with Imperialists. Hey, Shenhua, if you're reading this; let us know as soon as you have our Real Salt Lake jerseys done.
Are you kidding me? Powell just stated the official position regarding China and Taiwan. There's nothing ambiguous about that position. One China policy was established since the Nixon admin and is still in effect.
And it's sad that we refuse to recognize a democracy where over 77.5% of the voting age population voted for their president in 2000 (compared to 49.3% in the U.S.). http://www.idea.int/vt/country_view.cfm
The only ambiguity is whether we defend Taiwan in a shooting war. Now ... on the issue of whether Powell hates Democracy, it is clear that he does unless he resigns in protest between now and Nov. 2. That's my dream October surprise.
I don't know how to feel about this. The US has always had a wink-wink relationship with Taiwan. China is like the wife that the US keeps around because she's the boss's daughter. Taiwan is the girl US screws on the side and pays for her apartment and dance school tuition. Powell's statement is basically the US saying to Taiwan's face "I love my wife, the sex is great and I'm never leaving her for you." Nothing Taiwan didn't know already, but not the smartest thing to say either.
Taiwan, to put it mildly, is not pleased.... http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/10/26/China.Taiwan.notalk.reut/index.html Complete hypocrisy on behalf of the Bush administration. For all the preaching about democracy, the United States ignores a loyal ally that has created a flourishing, prosperous, free democracy for the sake of appeasing the ChiComs. There is only one China. And one Taiwan as well.
I can remember when the Bush administration had the well-thought out policy of bashing China publicly as a future enemy and flying planes just off the coastline. How times have changed.
Considering that the Chinese are helping to finance Ole Five-to-Four's deficit spending, I can't say that I'm shocked at this at all. And considering that the Saudis are also helping to finance that deficit spending, it explains why this administration defers to them so often.
Shenhua may be staying away as a result of the image ban in this forum. He can no longer satisfy his urge to post pictures of Chinese military hardwares here.
Democracy is always secondary to profits of big business, multi-national corporations. Therefore, Powell's statement is optimal in current international affairs.