Dear President George W. Bush: Soon you will meet with President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), dictator of China. It is important to me, that as my president, and to hundreds of millions of others in the US, Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Japan, China and around the globe, that you represent us in your meeting with Hu as a beacon of the free, with the strength and conviction that comes from certainty of purpose and path, and from confidence in certain truths we know to be "self-evident" and undeniable.
If you ever should feel even the slightest bit "outnumbered" in the heart of tyranny on foreign shores, please remember that we as a multitude also believe in these eternal truths, and that our belief will never waver.
Diplomacy will require certain comity, politeness and collegiality, but allegiance to these truths must shine, and even a handshake with a dictator must show the determination of what is right over what is not.
The lives and livelihoods, liberty and happiness, and hope of billions rides on that handshake and your determination. In that moment, Hu must fully understand that the tenure of tyranny is short, and the power of democracy, which you represent, is unlimited and overwhelming.
I trust you to relay both this message and this impression, with your strength and determination, and your dedication to these ideals we labor to bring to the oppressed peoples of the world.
I hope you are not pressed to speak ill of democracy in Taiwan, or Hong Kong, or of the hope of freedom of worship in Tibet, and if you are pressed, you call upon that strength to resist.
None of the tens of millions in Taiwan or Tibet should be sacrificed in the name of diplomacy, for comity with evil is evil itself.
I know you are committed to freedom. You have pronounced it many, many times, often in the face of adversity, and when you have, my heart has soared. It is important, and fitting, for the US to be in the forefront of the quest for liberty, as the seeds of democracy were planted on our shores.
I would like you to know that there are millions in Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and China who look to the US to bring a strong message to Beijing about human rights, freedom of speech and religion and about our unrelenting opposition to China's determination to exterminate those it deems a threat, including all those in China who deign to speak out against tyranny and oppression, and all those who yearn for freedom in Tibet and Taiwan. There is no room on Earth for such views, in particular those held by a nation determined to become a world power.
You have met the Dalai Lama recently. If you talked with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), you would know the support that exists in Taiwan for freedom -- not the yearning for conflict or controversy, but only to be free.
That China would prevent this or try to prevent you from even speaking with either man, is evidence of the cowardice and tyranny implicit in the Chinese dictatorship.
I ask you to be mindful of these things as you represent the US and freedom itself.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry