Dumbest US leader ever
In one or two decades, when the accurate prediction of global warming and its devastating effects on ecosystems (“Large sections of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef found dead,” April 23, page 9) and human economies (“Cape Town suffers amid worst drought in century,” June 2, page 6) will be praised as one of the greatest scientific achievements ever, Donald Trump will be vilified as the dumbest and most reckless US president ever because of his rejection of climate change action.
We will look back and wonder how such a man could have ever been elected to one of the most important political positions in the world. Already, the tragicomical farce playing out every day in the White House beggars belief.
Temperatures in Taiwan and the world are creeping up to reach new record highs yet again this year, after 2014 through last year already broke all the records (“Last month hottest June in modern history: NOAA,” July 21, 2016, page 7).
It is not a nice thing to gloat, but hey, I was right about global warming (Letters, Sept. 21, 2014, page 8), and I was also right about the fact that Taiwan should not for one moment put any faith in Trump’s supposed intention to help in the face of growing Chinese pressure and that the Taiwanese public would be extremely foolish to trust him (Letter, Dec. 14, 2016, page 8).
It is also highly revealing how the latest Trump flip-flop played out (“Trump unwittingly endorsing Xi,” April 29, page 8).
Apparently being more comfortable around the world’s dictators than democratically elected leaders, he chummed up to his newfound pal, the “terrific” Chinese President Xi [Jinping (習近平)], over chocolate cake while bombarding another country (“Syria attack postprandial ‘entertainment’ for Trump,” May 3, page 7).
Just picture it: A ruthless dictator and a wannabe dictator deciding Taiwan’s future over cake crumbs! Now that is the brewing bromance the world has been waiting for.
Thus, Trump again snubbed a democratic leader, in this case President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in favor of a dictator (“Trump snub a ‘slap in the face,’ reasonable: pundits,” April 30, page 1).
Since Trump also has direct financial interests in China (“Trump adviser’s company courting Chinese investors,” May 8, page 1), Taiwan can just forget about relying on Trump ever again.
All that keeps Taiwan safe now is the US’ Taiwan Relations Act and the continued support of some in the US Congress. I really wonder how the early Trump cheerleaders feel about him now.
Can anybody imagine that people will celebrate Trump’s 100th birthday as they celebrated former US president John F. Kennedy’s achievements? (“Thousands celebrate life of JFK on 100th birthday,” May 31, page 7)
Hardly — because there is nothing to celebrate when arrogance, recklessness and stupidity combine into a toxic brew.
Flora Faun
Taipei
US is the biggest threat
Paul Lin’s (林保華) piece (“China is a much bigger threat to US than Russia,” June 3, page 8) is wrong. China is not a threat to the US.
Yes, China spends between US$100 billion and US$200 billion on its military. The US spends between US$500 billion and US$600 billion. That is more than half of US$1 trillion and between three and five times what China spends.
China has a total of two aircraft carriers. The US has 19.
Yes, China is building island military bases. The US already has military bases to China’s west in Afghanistan, China’s south in Australia and the Philippines, and China’s east in Japan and South Korea. Only to its north is there no base.
In other words, China is contained by US military power.
China is currently not involved in any shooting war with anyone. The US is currently at war in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and is still at war in Afghanistan even though Osama bin Laden has been dead for five years.
A majority of the world’s population views the US as the biggest threat to world peace; not North Korea, not the Middle East and not China.
China is not becoming the world’s main source of war. The US already is the world’s main source of war.
Andres Cheng
Taipei
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