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| Europe | |
| German Leader Vows One-China Policy | |
| 2003-12-02 | |
Citing his countryâs own turbulent history, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder affirmed his support Tuesday for the Beijing leadershipâs most frequently touted diplomatic principle - the ``one-China policyââ that insists Taiwan is part of the mainland.
Remember why the two Germanys were separated, Gerhard? Something to do about a wall, right? Machine guns, barbed wire, moats, alligators, the whole shootinâ match. Taiwan and mainland China separated in 1949 amid a civil war. Since then, although the island functions as a sovereign nation, the communist leadership in Beijing has claimed it as part of China and says it could go to war if Taiwan moves toward formal independence. Schroeder also said his position means that Germany will not send ``sensitive goodsââ like weapons to Taiwan, whose main military supplier is the United States - a nation that nonetheless has formal diplomatic ties with China. "And we donât want to be like the US." China insists that its diplomatic partners renounce Taiwan sovereignty and trumpet their support of the ``one-China policy.ââ And Gerhard blows his horn! By the way, anyone hear from TGA lately? | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #16 Same spin different group - don't the muslims consider the parts of Europe they conquered to be theirs? Even if they were defeated. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2003-12-2 9:19:44 PM |
| #15 LH, thank you for identifying the posit as coming from Lenin. The way I understood Lenin's prediuction on the fall of capitalism was that a capitalist society would need to continually expand to annex new raw materials and cheap labor to exploit. The idea always struck me as kind of a play on mercantilism with an industrial revolution twist. The theory supposes that world economics is a zero sum game that will eventually collapse like a giant pyramid scam. My observation was that China seemed to be expanding outward to all places that Chinese people currently live or have ever lived. If you exagerate this ridiculously beyond Taiwan, China would then claim all the are that the Khan's seized, grab the Panama Canal (because there is a Chinese contractor running it), and systematically annexing Chinatowns in American cities from San Fransico to Washington DC. This exageration is only an illustration of my beleif that Taiwan was originally ethnically seperate from China and the only Chinese there are there for one reason - they or their families were refugees that didn't want to be ruled by Mao's governemt. I know the UK is reviewing it's system for granting refugee status, but I certainly don't want any part of Chinese refugees if that means their government can annex any area that grants them haven. With North Korea begin to annex parts of China as its starving people flee Kim? The KMT hung out in Burma during WWII. China can't want Burma too. The place if rife with problems. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-2 7:01:22 PM |
| #14 Taiwan, the last time I was there, which was awhile ago, was a Han governing class overlaying a Taiwanese plebs. I understand that's changed somewhat, since the Kuomintang quit being a dictatorship. But I'd say it's as Chinese now as Okinawa is Japanese. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-12-2 4:53:46 PM |
| #13 âWhen in the course of human eventsâ¦â |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2003-12-2 4:43:36 PM |
| #12 Liberalhawk, It's classical corporatist fascism: http://www.la-articles.org.uk/fascism.htm |
| Posted by: Ernest Brown 2003-12-2 4:09:17 PM |
| #11 .com AFAIK the Taiwanese are NOT chinese. They were invaded during the 17th century by China. After only two hundred years of Chinese domination they were invaded by Japan. They became Chinese again in 1945 and the followers of Chiang Kai Tcheck retreated there in 1949, much to the displeasure of the real Taiwanese. Taiwan is about as Chinese as Tibet ie NOT. |
| Posted by: JFM 2003-12-2 3:50:40 PM |
| #10 --We have experiences with what it means when a country is divided,ââ -- That's what happens when you get greedy. You're punished. Why do I think they never, never learn? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-2 1:15:57 PM |
| #9 ok granted i was oversimplifying, but it surely isnt a Leninist economy. In any case it doesnt fit the model SH quotes, since China is a capital importing economy, and Lenin (NOT Marx) posited imperial expansion as the solution to a capital surplus economy. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-12-2 1:04:07 PM |
| #8 minimal free markets and a crony-kleptocracy do not make a capitalist society. It's still overall control from the top and the economy operates as allowed by the Politburo. Should they decide to shut it down, even with all the hardships that would entail, they still could... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-12-2 12:12:26 PM |
| #7 LH - It's not a matter of confusion but collusion. Clearer? |
| Posted by: .com 2003-12-2 12:10:56 PM |
| #6 Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein F- oops. |
| Posted by: Matt 2003-12-2 12:10:27 PM |
| #5 SH - of course China is capitalist. Whats the confusion here? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-12-2 10:20:22 AM |
| #4 No real surprises here. Just as Germany's Nazi leadership sided with China's Cash My Check back in the 1930's over its ally, Japan, Germany's socialist leadership is siding with its communist brethren in Peking today. Germany is a sucker for unholy alliances. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-2 9:49:49 AM |
| #3 German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder affirmed his support Tuesday for the Beijing leadershipâs most frequently touted diplomatic principle - the ``one-China policyââ that insists Taiwan is part of the mainland. It would seem obvious to the most casual observer that an island by definition is not part of the mainland. Another obvious fact: appeasement = encouragement. Marx/Lenin speculated that capitalism would require imperialist expansion to survive. Does that mean that China is actually capitalist? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-2 4:56:27 AM |
| #2 Peking, fuck Beijing, can piss up the proverbial rope. Without its "experiment" in capitalism, the return of HK, and actions such as Germany's - it would eventually implode just as all of its ideological kindred have already done. The communists are counting on our greed to maintain theirs. Unlike the Eeeewwww, the US has not turned its back on Taiwan. As for the greed, it exists everywhere and the US has its share of asshats willing to sell the Taiwanese "down the river" for access to the Chinese "billions" - a joke given the avg annual income of a buck fifty. The US has, fortunately, not allowed its greedy corp shitheads to run our foreign policy, despite the claims of NaziMedia, and Taiwan is the proof. The world needs Taiwan just to show what the Chinese people are capable of if they have a decent chance (democracy, entrepreneurial freedom, etc.) sans the failed absurdity of communism. Bankrupt in every way, without such changes as Germany's declaration and those that have already kow-towed, communism would have already killed the golden goose - and the people would have turned and killed the communists. One China Policy = Gutless Greedy Mercantilism |
| Posted by: .com 2003-12-2 2:55:14 AM |
#1 "We have experiences with what it means when a country is divided..." Good lord. Is he suggesting that, as in Germany, the Communist half of the country should collapse and become one country under the authority of the free, democratic sides's system? How brave of him! That's a "One-China" unification vision we can all get behind! China united under Taiwan's system. Imagine the nerve it takes to defy the Chicoms like that by standing up to their one-party/nationalist firebreathing. What a pair of stones Shroeder has! I underestimated the man. At first I thought he was only cravenly sucking up to the Chicoms ;-> |
| Posted by: Tokyo Taro 2003-12-2 2:47:11 AM |