By Charlie Meyer:

“They [China] need[s] us more than we need them.”

Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven (aka: former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher)

What’s the Guy on the Left doing quoting a conservative politician, and former 10 Downing Street occupant Maggie Thatcher at that? Well, even conservatives can get something right from time to time. I probably wasn’t the only kid several decades ago that was admonished at dinner time with: “Think of all the starving children in China...” to encourage us to eat our vegetables. Kids today could easily use the snappy comeback: “Oh, the ones who took all our jobs, Mom?” Reckless corporate offshoring hurts everyday Americans.

What then is the People’s Republic of China? Sorry, you don’t become a “world power” just because you can’t seem to figure out birth control. In the better part of forty years since when the then President Tricky Dick Nixon went to Peking, Marx and Mao have faded into the background, and so-called “free market” economics now rules with all the same brutal repression Red China has always been known for. Is that “progress”? No. The Chinese Communist Party now has all the “socialism” as the National Socialist Workers Party had in the second quarter of the last century. I wonder if the only remaining commune is in the Chinese knock off of Disneyland’s Fantasyland. Remember the Olympic Games, where the Peking government shut down polluting factories to fake clear skies in one of the world’s most polluted skylines?

Communist China has allowed Corporate America to profitably offshore millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs. All the joys of Wall Street making money, without those pesky First World American workers. Well, our Army is still taking young recruits. The Chinese also have a screwy, lopsided view of what constitutes “free trade.” China’s artificially pegged currency puts the rest of the trading world at a disadvantage, and we just lay there and take it. No more.

China leads the world with executions; enough to make a Texas prosecutor or wacko Iranian cleric drool with envy. China’s capital punishment figures are a badly kept state secret, often exercised there in the spirit of “pour encourager les autres” (“to encourage the others”). I don’t agree with capital punishment, but at least here one has to be a heinous murderer to be sentenced to die. Google stunned the world by standing up to the Peking regime’s hacking and censorship of the Internet. Others, such as Cisco, technologically facilitate Peking spying on its’ own Internet users, and shamelessly rake in the cash.

Think of Fido. While our county’s Humane Officers are often unappreciated, they have the sad duty to care for abandoned, stray, and sick animals. This isn’t Hawaii, where I graduated from college, where there is a handy moat called the Pacific Ocean to keep the Islands of Aloha free of rabies. Our Humane Officers must often euthanize diseased and unwanted dogs; a final act of kindness is an uncaring world. I couldn’t do their jobs, but I appreciate what they do. Then consider rabies control in mainland China: officials conduct mass culls, with dogs being crudely bludgeoned to death, often in front of their owners. Sorry, thug barbarism doesn’t make you a world power.

Well, as I mentioned in last week’s column, I am typing this into my six-year-old Apple iBook, which ironically is made in Taiwan. One, it’s paid for; two, it runs current Mac software; and three, I just don’t do Windows. I grew up in an era of symbolism in protest, so I really ought to slap a Republic of China flag, the one that flies over Taiwan, on my laptop just to thumb my nose at those Peking tyrants. Reality check: despite being disowned around most of the world politically and diplomatically, Taiwan has long evolved into a free, democratic, and prosperous First World nation. I know that probably makes me a potential Chicago Cubs or Atlanta Braves fan. Democracy rules Taiwan these days, whereas their overpopulated neighbor across the strait is a repressive, totalitarian giant burdened with way too many people who would probably much rather live where freedom reigns, if they were allowed freedom of choice.

Keep in mind we haven’t exactly armed Taiwan to the teeth, despite that free island spending the last sixty years in Peking’s gunsights. This military hardware sale is designed to help counter aggression from the mainland. For example, Patriot missile batteries are defensive weapons, warranted by the multitude of Red Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan. Those Peking tyrants openly covet Taiwan’s success, and have long threatened to invade that island of freedom. Taiwan isn’t looking for a handout.

At least President Obama is standing up to Peking’s bluster; unlike Dubya, who figured he shouldn’t irritate the totalitarian regime whose investments in our public debt allowed us to fight two wars and still give fat tax cuts to the rich. Mr. President: welcome the Dalai Lama and support the capability of Taiwan to live in freedom. It’s the right thing to do.   Counter the threats of those Peking tyrants; sell Taiwan the American-made F-16 fighters that were left out of this arms deal. Stand up for freedom. It’s bad enough that about the only place to find merchandise not made in Red China is at Goodwill. Corporate America has sold us out for fat profits from cheap mainland Chinese labor. Our commitment to democracy should continue to be demonstrated in supporting a free, democratic Taiwan.

I was always skeptical why we chose the repressive People’s Republic of China on the mainland instead of the free Republic of China in Taiwan. Taiwan had a difficult beginning; it took decades for a true, free democracy to develop there. We should support freedom and democracy, and that isn’t on the Chinese mainland.

Maggie was correct: China needs us more than we need them.

By Stephen Smoot:

Since President Ronald Reagan left office, the world has seen a brilliant transformation as democracy sprouted and flowered on every continent. From the fall of Communism in Europe to the end of apartheid in South Africa, peoples everywhere gained a new hope that their governments would recognize their natural rights. Those days came after decades of struggle and uncertainty. Some people’s lived uncomfortably close to the front lines of conflict in the Cold War and persevered through the darkest of years by our side. The people of Taiwan kept the faith through those years and now we need to keep our commitment to them.

Taiwan is not a separate country, but a part of China. In 1948 the Nationalist government under Chiang Kai Shek fled the mainland and found safety behind the guns of the United States Navy on Taiwan. Meanwhile Communists on the mainland under Mao Tse Dong massacred hundreds of thousands and destroyed Chinese society.   Taiwan’s capital of Taipei has the only truly legitimate government in the country, if we believe our Founding Fathers’ words that say the right to govern comes from the consent of the people. Chinese on Taiwan elect their own government while the rest of China labors under a Communist dictatorship that jails them for political dissent. Let us not forget the nature of that system and let us not delude ourselves into thinking that all of China is not culturally ripe for a natural rights based democracy.

Red China sees Taiwan as an embarrassment that perpetually undermines its legitimate claims to be the real authority in the country. Communists claim that dictatorship is necessary, but Taiwan for decades has been more prosperous without the debilitating corruption that pervades the mainland. Recently China has received accolades for its economic success, but much of that came after absorbing the wealthy British crown colony of Hong Kong which was, like Taiwan, built on capitalism. Taiwan’s continued freedom is an example that the rest of China yearns to follow because it promises both wealth and freedom. Were it not for the support of the United States, China would declare Taiwan a rebellious province and try to crush it militarily. If successful, Communist China would send every Taiwanese political and economic figure into “re-education camps” to be forcibly purged of their love of freedom.

In such areas of tension, our enemies wait for the slightest signal to pounce. Decades ago, the Korean War started after a careless statement made by the American Secretary of State. Any indication that we will not defend Taiwan could touch off a conflict that we will be bound to fight. We have agreements in place that commit us to defending Taiwan. Preventing an attack means constantly reminding Communist China of our determination to fight on democracy’s behalf.

Taiwan shares an anxiety felt by most Americans. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid’s never ending desire for more money for ever expanding federal power requires money. They currently are trying to sneak higher taxes onto everyone making over $25,000 per year, according to a recent Reuters analysis. However that is not nearly enough. They must borrow the lion’s share and balloon the national debt. China has been loaning us vast sums. This week Democrats in the House of Representatives want to change the law to allow us to go deeper in debt to China and other foreign powers.

At some point that debt will give China an uncomfortable amount of leverage over our policymaking.   They already have made statements about Democrats’ free spending ways and the possible disaster

that could await the US. On one hand I agree completely, but they were obviously trying to use their position as lender to influence US domestic policy. That is frankly a little scary. In some ways our debt is transforming us into a Third World country. On the other hand, it cuts both ways. Should China and the United States end up in a war over Taiwan or some other issue, that gives us the liberty to invalidate the debt entirely. It also cuts China off of their main export market. Yes we have leverage here, but it is from a position of weakness. America should never have to deal from vulnerability.

How the United States speaks and acts is very important. Obama’s apology tour has led to Al Quaida feeling more confident than ever. This week we just got warned of a possible terror attack coming against our soil very soon. What message would it send to China if we did not support our Taiwanese friends? It would encourage them to act on what they have always claimed is their right. They will invade, subjugate, and eliminate this final bastion of freedom in the Chinese speaking world.

Taiwan needs and deserves our support. They stood by us on the front lines of freedom for decades. The external Communist threat to us receded, but for them the Cold War continues. We must stay committed.