Taiwan, We Apologize: You Are A Sovereign Country

Calling upon my political credentials (such as they are) as a failed, ex-candidate for the US Congress, on behalf of the current and previous Presidential administrations and the American People, I officially apologize for the mistreatment of your country: Taiwan.

A Bit Of History

For you young 'uns, let me tell you how things used to be in the dark ages. In the early 70's, I had just become a sentient being as a teenager getting ready to vote in my first election. It was a great scandal when President Nixon and his SecState Kissinger opened diplomatic channels to Communist (Red) China.

At this time, it was a ridiculous foreign policy fiction that the the tiny island also represented mainland China under control of the Communists, as we did not recognize Communist control of the mainland China. Just as today, it is equally ridiculous that US foreign policy does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country.

Taiwan Deserves UN Membership

When you observe the existence of Taiwan over the years, there is no doubt that Taiwan is a sovereign entity. As such, there is no rationale to deny her a seat at the UN. Viewed upon the stream of human history, we ought not to deny Taiwan her own destiny.

I beg the powers that be: grant Taiwan full UN membership.

PRC and ROC

Both the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC), Communist China, and the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan, are deserving of our respect. They are clearly sovereign countries controlling their individual destinies, for better or worse. Both ought to have seats at the UN.

Why PRC Hates ROC

From the sympathetic sino viewpoint, ROC (and Tibet ICYW) are merely errant children, sullen irredentists, who will eventually see the light and come home again and hug their proper masters. Here, any action that furthers this eventuality is justifiable.

The Taiwan Carrier Battle Group

Living within spitting distance of a hostile neighbor bent on hemispherical hegemony, surely ROC deserves whatever military force they can afford: anti-ship missiles (to counter the nascent PRC blue water navy), our best anti-ballistic-missile system, state of the art air force (ditch those idiotic F16; they should have the F22 or F35 or whatever our air force is calling them, or at least the latest generation of F18 Super-Hornets).

The US Navy has a plenitude of retired assets: floating museums (Hornet), mothball fleet (Coral Sea), and grannies (Missouri). Surely it would not be economically unreasonable to refurbish these old gals and make them seaworthy again? OK, granted, they are technologically a few decades obsolete, but surely, having them is better than not having naval assets at all? Surely more than a match for PRC's halting naval building exercises?