Obama in China

Recently, US President Barak Obama was in China and conducted a "town hall" meeting with university students in Shanghai. During this town hall meeting, he was asked an exceedingly leading question about US arms sales to Taiwan. ("I'm so worried that continued US arms sales to Taiwan will affect my business in China.") Obama totally avoided addressing his question, and instead gave this mealy-mouthed answer:

One of the things that I think that the United States, in terms of its foreign policy and its policy with respect to China, is always seeking is ways that through dialogue and negotiations, problems can be solved. We always think that's the better course. And I think that economic ties and commercial ties that are taking place in this region are helping to lower a lot of the tensions that date back before you were born or even before I was born.

Now, there are some people who still look towards the past when it comes to these issues, as opposed to looking towards the future. I prefer to look towards the future. And as I said, I think the commercial ties that are taking place -- there's something about when people think that they can do business and make money that makes them think very clearly and not worry as much about ideology. And I think that that's starting to happen in this region, and we are very supportive of that process. OK?

Now, I don't expect Obama to be an expert in all the many nuances of politics in Taiwan, or even all the intricacies of cross-strait policies and development. But the utter philosophical and political vacuousness of that response just blew me away. Obama calls Taiwan's quest for justice and self-determination "looking backwards;" the ongoing sellout of Taiwan's sovereignty is "looking forward;" standing up for democracy is just a useless "worrying about ideology." And what's Obama's advice? "STFU, you annoying democracy advocates. Let's just make money and get rich." He might as well have added, "to be rich is to be glorious." Doubtless, he was trying to suck up big-time to his Chinese hosts. I'm also reminded how Obama used the same language (Let's look forward, not backwards) about his decision to cover-up and not prosecute GW Bush's many war crimes, including authorizing torture.

Speaking of Bush, remember how 8 years ago, G.W. Bush said that the USA will do "whatever it takes" to defend Taiwan against Chinese imperialism and expansionism? My how things change. (But it was about the only thing that Bush said in 8 years that I could whole-heartedly support.) Of course, to first defend Taiwan, there would first have to be a government in Taiwan that cares about being defended, which is obviously not the case anymore. Or remember how Bush had the balls to congratulate Taiwan for its democratic development? But, since Obama came to China with cup in hang to beg for more money to keep the American government solvent, he couldn't make even the weakest statement of support for Taiwan. And this is assuming Obama even HAS any support or concern for Taiwan, which, given his 100% establishment thinking, I doubt he has.

But what is the deal with this STUPID idea that that the current reductions in tensions between China and Taiwan has been a result of both sides putting aside their ideology? If only the Taiwanese cared even 1% as much about "ideology" as China does. What else could explain China's blind territorial ambitions on Taiwan, its utter devotion to one-party rule, or its totalitarian suppression of dissent within its borders (and even attempts to squelch dissent outside its borders. See here, here, and here.)? What else but a 100% dedication to its ideology could explain China's total suppression of Taiwan's international space and its blind devotion to the "One China Policy"? What's more, most, if not all, of the Chinese businesses and banks that will soon start flooding Taiwan are, in part, state-owned. There's no doubt that once Chinese capital gets its hooks into Taiwanese businesses, the "ideology" of their CCP bosses back in Beijing will start poisoning policies and business decisions here in Taiwan. If Obama thinks China doesn't give a shit anymore about "ideology," then he has his head a mile up his ass!

What Obama's answers also indicate is that US foreign policy towards Taiwan is still stuck in the Cold War, and probably confuses anti-Chinese sentiment in Taiwan as some residual anti-communism ideology left over from the Chinese civil war between the CCP and the KMT. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The ideological war between the CCP and the KMT has been over for 20 years. The CCP and the KMT are now active allies in suppressing democracy in Taiwan. They are just two sides of the same coin of Chinese despotism. If there is anti-Chinese sentiment on the part of democracy advocates in Taiwan, it's merely the result of a long-suppressed people who have the audacity to stand up for themselves and who ask merely to be left the fuck alone so they can enjoy their hard-won freedoms and democracy.