Obama Grants PLO Officials in US Diplomatic Immunity

I guess this falls in the catagory of 'Smart Power'.

After a year and half in office, Obama recognized that his previous view of the Middle East was wrong. And as a pragmatist, he has embarked on a new course.

Yet before the ink on their proclamations had a chance to dry, Obama demonstrated that their enthusiasm was misplaced. Late last week the administration decided – apropos of nothing – to upgrade the diplomatic status of the PLO mission in Washington.

From now on, the PLO will be allowed to fly its flag like a regular embassy.

Its representatives will enjoy diplomatic immunity just like diplomats from states.

Indeed the PLO delegate in Washington Maen Areikat claimed that the administration’s move equates the PLO’s diplomatic status in the US to that of Canada and states in Western Europe. - JPost

And just what did they do to earn this? While he is at it, why not just extend the same courtesy to the Iranians? Or how about the Taiwanese?

TO PUT this move in perspective, it is worth comparing the PLO’s new status to that of the US’s firm ally and fellow democracy – Taiwan, the Republic of China. Whereas the PLO now has a “delegation general” in Washington, Taiwan has the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.” - JPost

Maybe if this Administration can find the time, perhaps they might consider strengthening our relationships with our friends for a change...

Update: 28 July

And what about Tibet? How about extending them the same courtesy...

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IOC: We support China's Oppressive Regime, So Should You

So as Tibet burns, the international Olympic Committee is all of a sudden worried that this might effect their upcoming party this summer when the Olympics are hosted in Communist China.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured cold water Saturday on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China's crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes.

"We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing." - BreitBart

Surely the flare up in Tibet is not the only reason to boycott the China elections. How about these other major issues:

• China's illegal claim to and isolation of independent Taiwan
• China's active defense of Government-backed genocide in the Sudan
• China's vital support of North Korea's Communist regime
  
• China's repression of human rights at home
• China's restrictions on freedom of the press
  
• And of course, China's Brutal occupation of Tibet
  

It is interesting that they would push the 'but think about the athletes who will suffer under a boycott.' angle. This was something they should have spent a little more time thinking about before awarding the Olympics to a country with such a poor record on a number of human rights fronts. The International Olympic Committee is just as guilty as China for putting the athletes in this position.

Now, most people have no control or influence in this situation. I am limited to blogging about the issue. It is not like I can declare that I am boycotting the Games as protest against China's actions as listed above, since I had never planned to go in the first place. However, the athletes are invited to attend and for most competing in the Olympics is a life-long dream. China would be facing a public affairs disaster if athletes started saying that they will not go. So at least they have some power, especially those who are already famous. If too many refuse to attend, then that will place a cloud over the Games long after they are over. This is how I remember the 1980 Games, which was boycotted by the US and others in protest of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. (Note: The Soviet Union Boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as revenge. However, looking at what has been going on over the last two days, I can't see how the Chinese are going to avoid having the games be marred by what has already happened in Tibet.

There is another issue at play here. China has a very long history. For them, time has a different meaning for them than everyone else. They are willing to let things drag out what seems to be forever for the rest of us, because at the end of the day, China has been around for thousands of years. A decade is nothing for negotiating if they can wiggle a little better deal out of it at the end. (China's accession negotiation to the WTO took almost 15 and a half years, which is a record.) However, they are quickly running out of this time luxury when it comes to pushing off pressure to deal with these issues as the Olympics are a one-time shot to make their impression on the World and they are coming with a fixed date on the calendar. With that in mind, now is a perfect time to push China to make concessions in many areas, or at least take advantage of their current position.

The Chinese wanted to host the Olympics for propaganda purposes. None of us should forget that. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton is already headed down this path, calling for the US to recognize Taiwan, because China will do nothing about it. At least not before the Olympics, and after that, it will probably be too late. At the same time, they should be pushed on all the other issues listed above. Surely, these are not new tactics for China, just that they would be on the receiving end for once. The athletes need to understand that they are going to be China's 'tools' if they attend, so by not boycotting the Olympics, they in effect can be seen to be supporting China's regime.

China needs to realize that it has bigger problems, like sustainable growth and keeping it's export markets secure in order to keep the millions of Chinese at work. Turning Tibet into a real disaster will have negative implications for the whole country long after the Olympics. After all, killing monks is not an Olympic sport.

Not to forget, China is not the first country to use the Olympics for political gain. Hitler's Germany did.

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The coming Olympic Games have now assumed in Germany an almost fantastic importance. Incongruous as it may seem, the key to German national policy at the moment is simply a determination to make the Berlin Olympiad a striking success.

The Nazi regime expects the Olympic Games to achieve nothing less than a complete about-face in the world's attitude toward the Third Reich. Publicity specialists in the Propaganda Ministry and the man in the street are united in the conviction that the Olympics will turn the trick and create the friendly attitude toward the National Socialist political, economic and racial aims that is so earnestly desired. - New York Times, 1936

We all know how well that turned out.
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Update: 18 March 08
Seems that the voices are growing louder for some sort of protest:

PARIS (AP) - Moves to punish China over its handling of violence in Tibet gained momentum Tuesday, with a novel suggestion for a mini-boycott of the Beijing Olympics by VIPs at the opening ceremony.

Such a protest by world leaders would be a huge slap in the face for China's Communist leadership.

France's outspoken foreign minister, former humanitarian campaigner Bernard Kouchner, said the idea "is interesting. - My Way News

This is probably just the first step before acceptance of a full boycott.

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Previous:
Taiwan is an independent Nation - 21 April 05
Let Taiwan Join the UN - 22 July 07
Bolton - US Should Recognize Taiwan - China Will Do Nothing - 28 Aug 07
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Bolton - US Should Recognize Taiwan - China Will Do Nothing

Seems that my post "Let Taiwan Join the UN" fits in with former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton:

The US should restore diplomatic relations with Taiwan, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said yesterday, adding that Beijing would not retaliate.

Bolton made the remarks yesterday in a speech on "US global democracy strategy and cooperation with Taiwan" at the Grand Formosa Regent hotel in Taipei. Bolton is visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. - Taipei Times, 15 August 2007

As I said, there is not much China could do, if they were to limit themselves to only rational choices. Sure, they can invade the island, but they will just be shooting themselves in the foot. (Along with the rest of the planet.) Simply put, China needs to keep things stable so as to not disrupt their economy and the jobs that are being created, as they have millions who need jobs. Retaliating against their biggest customer, the United States, would be economic suicide.

Certainly, recognizing Taiwan will simply make official what is already the case, in that Taiwan is not under China's control.

""It is incorrect to call Taiwan a province of China because we are not," - Michael Lu, Taiwanese Foreign Ministry.

"Taiwan is an independent, sovereign state. Taiwan is not part of China." "Taiwan has never been ruled by China, nor has the Chinese government deployed any government functionaries or armed forces here" - David Huang, Taiwan Solidarity Union legislative caucus - Link"

During his speech, Mr. Bolton also criticized UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon over his handling of Taiwan's application to join the UN:

Bolton said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was wrong to personally reject Taiwan's latest application for membership.

The application should have been referred to the UN General Assembly, he said.

Bolton also criticized Ban for saying Taiwan was "an integral part of the People's Republic of China."

"It is really beyond Ban's authority and therefore illegitimate," Bolton said. - Taipei Times

Unfortunately, the UN General Assembly probably would have rejected the application as well, but not out of merit, but out of either fear of China, or due to bribes from China. That however is not the important step. It is the US that should recognize Taiwan first. Then other steps can be made.

Bolton said the US government should restore its diplomatic relations with Taipei because it would serve US interests and reduce its costs in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Recognition would bring stability and certainty -- thus, actually lower the US' costs," Bolton said.

"It would also strengthen the US and the region by signaling to others the strength of the US' commitment to Taiwan and the region," he said.

Recognizing Taiwan would mean acknowledging reality, the best basis for a sound foreign policy, he said.

Bolton believed that Beijing would not act if Washington officially recognized Taiwan as a country.

Beijing cannot afford to break diplomatic ties with the US or launch a war against it, Bolton said. - Taipei Times

Now is the time to act on this. Once done, other countries will surely follow. Any retaliation by China will surely backfire on them as also kill off any prospects for a successful 2008 Olympic games. (Although there are a number of other issues that risk the Games.)

Bolton says China would not act if US recognized Taiwan - Taipei Times

Past FFI Posts:
Taiwan is an independent Nation - 21 April 2005
Taiwan is an independent Nation: Update - 4 Oct 2005
Let Taiwan Join the UN - 22 July 2007

Let Taiwan Join the UN

I have written about Taiwan's de-facto independence in the post "Taiwan is an independent Nation". However, it is truly independent in that it is not even a member of the United Nations, nor does it have official country-level relations with more than a handful of countries. This is entirely due to Communist China's demand that you can either have diplomatic relations with Taiwan or them along with their veto of Taiwan's attempts to apply for UN membership.

Reality forces most countries to choose China, including the US. One side effect of all this is that Taiwan is a place where almost nothing can be found to have been 'Made in China'. None of the politics however has stopped Taiwan from developing into a model first-world country. That says volumes about how beneficial UN Membership really is. The benefit seems to be in not having that International body chained around your country's neck.

Despite this, Taiwan has once again decided that it would like to apply for UN Membership.

Taiwan has submitted its first formal application to join the United Nations, a government spokesman has said.

He said an application signed by President Chen Shui-bian had been delivered to the UN Secretary General.

The Chinese foreign ministry immediately dismissed the move, saying it was "doomed to failure".

Taiwan has long campaigned to join the UN but all such attempts have been blocked by China which regards the island as a breakaway province. - BBC

Traditionally, the excuse to deny Taiwan's application has been China's demand that Taiwan is part of China. The UN and the Member States has gone along with this line of thought. The US has worked to protect against a Communist takeover of Taiwan going as far as selling substantial military equipment to the island along with pledges to provide equipment to defend it. However, it too has masked it's official relations with Taiwan. This is how the US apparently views the situation.

Our policy is based on the principle that there must be no use of force by China against Taiwan. We deny the right of Beijing to impose its rule on the free Taiwanese people. All issues regarding Taiwan's future must be resolved peacefully and must be agreeable to the people of Taiwan. If China violates these principles and attacks Taiwan, then the United States will respond appropriately in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act. America will help Taiwan defend itself. - Heritage Foundation

Why can't we just end this charade. While it is possible for Taiwan to join with Communist China, as China wants, that will only happen with the approval of the Taiwanese people. So why should those people be isolated for no reason other than Communist China's bullying and goal of eventual domination of the island-nation. Part of attaining that goal is keeping Taiwan isolated internationally.

The UN is not going to approve this application as the Chinese will veto it. So the driving force will have to come from the US or EU. The EU probably would not be able to get all it's member countries to agree to such an act, at least not as the first mover. That leaves the US. China-US relations are primarily driven by the US trying not to upset the Chinese while pushing for reforms. As a result, the Taiwan issue has been set aside as counterproductive. Since there has not been a payoff of any sort of substantial reforms in China, why not upset the apple cart?

What could the Chinese do in response?

• Invade Taiwan? - Not likely as it would result in 1 billion unemployed Chinese. (or however many would be left it the shooting got serious.)


• Undervalue their currency? - Well they are doing that now and despite pressure by the US to let their currency float they still manipulate it. Look at this post from last year where I graph that the Yuan-Euro exchange rate is mirroring the Dollar-Euro exchange rate.


• Cuttoff exports to the US? - That would most likely hurt China much more than the US. They need the US market for their products, plain and simple. (I think that we will quickly manage to cope not having access to cheap crap. This might be the biggest reason for pissing off the Chinese.)

So maybe the US should have some behind-the-scene discussions with China asking them to think long and hard about what they consider really important. There is another factor that makes now an ideal time to sort out the Taiwan issue. That is the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. You see, while China might not be able to pressure the US to undue any formal recognition of Taiwan, it can however, move to punish other nations that do. But with the Olympics being hosted in China, that would quickly lead to a Chinese 'loss of face' if those nations boycott the Olympics in return. The Chinese are desperate to avoid any issue upsetting the Olympics.

Lets face it, if the Chinese had things stacked in their favor, they would take advantage of the opportunity. Darfur is a perfect example of that. Actually, now might be a good time to confront China on a number of issues besides Taiwan. How about Their defense of Sudan's actions in Darfur, Tibet and questionable weapons exports for starters. Then there is the whole issue of human Rights, pollution and even global warming.

The simple fact is that the 2008 Olympics will be a huge propaganda present for China. It will be impossible to obtain any concessions from them after the Olympics. So now is the time to right some longstanding wrongs. Taiwan is one of them.

So what are we waiting for?


Update: 26 July
I suspect that we will be seeing more people doing this over the next year:

Steven Spielberg, under pressure from Darfur activists, may quit his post as artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, unless China takes a harder line against Sudan, a representative of the film director told ABC News.

China, Sudan's largest oil customer and perennial defender, has come under renewed scrutiny in the lead up to the Olympics, as the country juggles its need for cheap energy with its desire to host a trouble-free games. - ABC News

Sudan is just one of many pressure points the Chinese are going to be pressed about by governments and activists alike.

Taiwan applies for UN membership - BBC

Taiwan is an independent Nation - 21 April 2005
Taiwan is an independent Nation: Update - 4 Oct 2005

.

Taiwan is an independent Nation: Update

I first wrote about Taiwan being an independent Nation here.

This week the Government of Taiwan has taken the unusual step of publically demanding that Google correct it's maps which show Taiwan as part of China.

"It is incorrect to call Taiwan a province of China because we are not," - Michael Lu, Taiwanese Foreign Ministry.

"Taiwan is an independent, sovereign state. Taiwan is not part of China." "Taiwan has never been ruled by China, nor has the Chinese government deployed any government functionaries or armed forces here" - David Huang, Taiwan Solidarity Union legislative caucus

Is this a declaration of Independence? Strange that Communist China is silent on the matter all of a sudden. The real qustion at the moment, was how did Google decide to mark the map this way? Did they just copy it from a public source or did someone inside Google decide this himself?

My original Post:
Taiwan is an independent Nation - Fred Fry International (21 April 05)

Taiwan raps Google over map label - International Herald Tribune

Google map says Taiwan part of China - World Net Daily

Taiwan is an independent Nation

Am I the only person on the planet who knows this?

The only reason Taiwan is still an issue is because countries will not acknowledge this. Taiwan is not independent but the US sells military weapons to it? Does this mean that the US is selling weapons to China? Of course not, so what does this mean?

According to the CIA Factbook:

Background: “In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1946 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the native population within the governing structure. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of eventual unification - as well as domestic political and economic reform.”

The country has a President and Vice-President. Ruling positions that do not exist in Communist China. These positions are filled through elections held every four years.

• The CIA lists that 25% of Taiwan’s exports are to China.
• Taiwan has a separate currency than China.
• Taiwan has its own Military.

The CIA summary has a chapter “International Disputes”

“involved in complex dispute with China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei over the Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; Paracel Islands are occupied by China, but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam; in 2003, China and Taiwan asserted claims to the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Tai) with increased media coverage and protest actions”

Now lets compare Taiwan’s situation with that of Hong Kong.

Background: “Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.”

The CIA lists Hong Kong as a “Special administrative region of China” There are no special notations for Taiwan.

The US Sate Department has Taiwan on the list of “Independent States in the World.” It is listed in the ‘other’ category, but it is listed as an independent state with the following footnote:

“Claimed by both the Government of the People's Republic of China and the authorities on Taiwan. Administered by the authorities on Taiwan.”

So in other words Taiwan is an Independent State that China claims as theirs. This is hardly in line with the claims of the Chinese Government. Nor in line with the "one country, two systems" formula being used for Hong Kong.

Just to clear any doubt on my assertion that Taiwan is an independent country, one can look at the US Sate Department’s “Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty.” To get an idea, here are some ‘countries’ that are not independent:

• Aruba (Netherlands)
• Bermuda (UK)
• Cayman Islands (UK)
• Gibraltar (UK)
• Greenland (Denmark)
• Hong Kong (China)
• Puerto Rico (United States)

China is becoming a stronger military power and with that has been more aggressive. They have demanded that the EU drop its embargo against selling military weapons to them, calling it racist. Passing a law to permit military force against Taiwan if it declares independence. Take the position opposite the US in the Security Council.

Should the US position change and formally recognize Taiwan. Just think of the benefits of this action. It puts China in its place. It provides justice to the Taiwanese people. It would also teach the French a lesson.

The French are most eager to stir the pot and Taiwan appears to be their best bet if forcing the US into a new conflict. How else can we view this? Why would the French Premier support China’s new law authorizing the use of military force against Taiwan to prevent independence? Why was there no protest or calls for the use of only peaceful means to resolve this long-standing situation? Why is there no demand that the Security Council first approve any use of force?

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing's "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant.

So the French position is clear. This was said just after the EU Parliament voted against lifting the EU’s arms embargo against China by 431 to 85. But the position of the French Government is to continue to push to end the embargo. Of course the French Premier was making his statement in China with completed deals worth over $3 billion in his jacket pocket. Lucky for the Chinese that some countries have no shame nor any care for the future problems their actions will create.

France Backs China on Taiwan - Deutsche Welle