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Miscellaneous thoughts and ramblings
Sunday, March 06, 2005
 
Freedom is on the March, part II

March 6: Thousands of pro-Taiwan supporters march to denounce Beijing's plan to pass anti-secession legislation. (AP photo)

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — More than 15,000 protesters marched in Taiwan on Sunday, denouncing China's planned anti-secession law and pledging to fight what they claim is Beijing's attempt to force this self-ruled, democratic island to unify with the mainland.

The procession through the southern city of Kaohsiung, a major seaport, came a day after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed never to permit formal independence for Taiwan as he opened a parliamentary session that is to enact an anti-secession law aimed at the island.
From Ukraine, to Iraq, to Lebanon, to Taiwan, millions of people have taken to the street demanding what our Founding Fathers stated were inalienable rights. The sight is heartening. China can't be happy to see this. Obviously Taiwan is much smaller and couldn't defend itself against the mainland if Beijing decided to retake it. The Taiwanese protesters are demonstrating courage and determination. Since they know that China is not to be trusted and that Taiwan's own military is too small to stop them, where do you suppose their faith in independence rests? Do they think France will intervene to ask China to sign a non-aggression treaty with Taiwan? Is their faith in a flotilla of UN peacekeepers in the Taiwan Strait? I don’t think so.

March on, little sister. America's got your back.
Comments:
The right thing for us to do would be to stand by Taiwan, but unfortunately, I don't think that will happen.
 
Irina: Howdy. How was your weekend?

What makes you say we won't defend Taiwan? Bush has repeatedly said we will, even before 9/11. Remember the mini-crisis with the US pilots that crashed in China? Bush has had practice standing up to China and we've said that it's our policy that we would intervene if China "tried to settle the Taiwan issue unilaterally".
 
Need to be careful how many fronts we open.
 
Jack: You're right. That's why it would be nice if we had a bigger military. Then we wouldn't have to be so careful.
 
Forgive me for my aside -- my TOTAL aside. Do tell ball-and-chain to check her comments on her other site. I added my two cents to her New Year's entry.
 
Think about the repercussions of fighting with over a billion Chinese, who just happened to be our "most favored" trade partners. Now, if we could set someone on them...
 
And my weekend was great, though busy! Thanks. Sunday I went to a major conference at Columbia, sponsored by Scholars for Peace and Justice, the David Project, and Columbia Law Students for Israel. It was about the Middle East Studies and Academic Integrity (or lack thereof). It featured such figures as Natan Sharansky, and the members of the David Project and ADL, but also columnists, activists,City Council members, and others. I'm currently writing about it on my blog. It's interesting to see how bad anti-Zionism/anti-Semitism has gotten on campus... most of these incidents are suppressed.
 
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