China is a hungry red dragon

Tom Bowie displays an admirable concern for Taiwan ("Letter, Feb. 22, page 8). He is absolutely correct in concluding that all too many people around the world appease China in order to avoid the red dragon's wrath. China has bullied the international community for many years and as its economic and military might increase, its rhetoric becomes harsher and their demands more relentless.

Fortunately, it seems the Americans have had enough and are starting to counter China's hegemonic ambitions.

Europe and the UN have kowtowed to China, and have sold a peace-loving, free democracy down the river. Not long ago there was another bully on the international scene: Nazi Germany. Then too, the world tried to appease a tyrannical dictatorship by sacrificing Czechoslovakia to satisfy the fascist wolf. The world also stood by while China annexed Tibet and committed cultural genocide.

However, the scenario of Taiwan joining China is absurd. It wouldn't frighten the west but cause them to sigh in relief. Tibet is an easier political issue for them to cope with than the intransigent Taiwan problem. Let us follow the consequences of such an action.

First of all, we would change from being allied to the world's most powerful military, to possibly facing it in battle as an enemy. Hardly a prudent or logical move. Second, it would mean giving up the very freedom which Bowie espouses. If China were ever to swallow Taiwan, the Taiwanese people would have regressed from a free and democratic people to virtual slave status in a brutal dictatorship run by a totalitarian Communist Party.

Anyone who has lived in a fascist society would never dream of suggesting such a possibility. Threatening the US is not the way for Taiwan to assure its continued freedom and peace. The world is starting to turn away from such political aberrations as dictatorships. There is a showdown coming as surely as in the cowboy movies, but don't worry, the good guy always wins -- at least in Hollywood.

Chaim Melamed
Pingtung