Is Powell in Beijing bearing a gift or asking for one?
wchao37  Updated: 2004-10-27 09:06

So Powell has come to Beijing to pose for photo-ops hobnobbing with the top brass of the Chinese nation.

Many have theorized that this might be the U.S. Secretary of State's valedictorian trip to the Orient. It is said that many people around the world from Pole to Pole are looking forward to a Kerry administration with less hostility and unilateralist policies from a new U.S. political platform in world affairs.

The much-decorated war veteran J. F. Kerry is obviously a better choice if the world opts for peace, since war is inevitable as long as the neocon nincompoops with their inane 'New American Century' political agenda are at the reins of government in Washington D.C.

The world has learned too many times that the words of the hegemon cannot be trusted, and Powell's words do not convince me that there is a fundamental policy change despite the fact that for the first time he is referring to the 'wishes of the 1.3 billion Chinese people on the mainland' as a factor in the issue of re-unification between the Mainland and the Island.

In fact, he has characterized the present administration's policies as a continuation of policies through six administrations, and that is not satisfactory to the Chinese nation because of the weapons sales imbroglio.

Unless he explicitly says that the U.S. Undersecretary of Defense has decided it is not worth the risk of a U.S.-China nuclear war to sell offensive weapons to Taiwan, all this unconvincing talk about their observance of the One China Principle is cheap and cheap to the core.

China and her people want convincing evidence that the U.S. has a change of heart in her Taiwan policy. All they want to hear from the U.S. is that they would not interfere in any conflict -- including a military one -- between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

But that could prove to be all an ephemeral pipedream if Powell's mission is simply tactically designed to drum up Chinese support of Bush in pivotal states in the U.S. for a victory at the voting berths. The few votes from the Chinese communities in the pivotal states might just be instrumental in pushing Bush over the top in view of the closeness of the prospective voting forecasts.

Powell must make his stand on the Taiwan issue clear, strong and unambiguous.

Short of that happening, Powell's gestures would seem just like another American attempt to use Chinese influence to improve Bush's chances of a re-election next week.

Still, the Chinese people know their country is gaining in strength day by day, and with the recent re-affirmation of the very important strategic ties between the Russian and Chinese peoples, the hegemons know that the days when they can ride roughshod over the Chinese nation using Taiwan as a bargaining chip is rapidly fading.

It will be nightmare for the Americans if the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership can truly go the full length from the drawing board to the performing platform now that border demarcations had been finalized. The cordiality of the recent Putin-Hu meeting seemed to indicate that Powell has brought tidings that the U.S. has recognized this trend and decided to call Chen off from any more display of his wulai tricks.

Let's hope that Powell' s trip will bring a truly fresh start between our two peoples and that we do not have to go to war over Taiwan at the instigation of another East Asian power which would only be too glad to see her two erstwhile enemies in WWII fight each other to death. That would be her only chance for a vindication for her visits to the Shrine.

Not believing in miracles, I still want to cross my fingers for one to happen right before my eyes.

Afterall, the American and Chinese peoples were indeed friends in WWII and given time, the Americans can prove themselves to have continued on their voyage of greatness by showing us that their present generation has received the baton from the likes of FDR and Lincoln, instead of having run over the cuckoo's nest by adopting the disquieting political agenda of the neocons in their dreams of a Fourth Expansion and world conquest.

The above content represents the view of the author only.

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