Saving Face

Regarding "Tough talk amplified by Chinese, Trump" (Tuesday Nation | World), emboldened by President Elect Trump's many stateside critics, Chinese officials warned Trump that "he was risking a confrontation" with China over his decision to accept a congratulatory call from Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen.  They then moved on to overt threats, and finished up by grandly declaring that unless we capitulated on Taiwan, American could never be great again.

This is standard Chinese rhetoric since the original Capitulator-In-Chief Jimmy Carter created America's "One China" policy in the 70s, essentially delegitimizing the democratically run island that China considers part of their nation in favor of a bunch of communist goons on the mainland.

Since then, American policy has been to placate China at the expense of Taiwan, and to capitulate time and again on matters of trade and monetary policy.  The ironic result of the "One China" policy is that we have handed the Chinese the economic leverage they now use to force concessions and influence our policies.

After almost 40 years of groveling before China, Donald Trump's blunt words and actions have been a breath of fresh air, and the ranting and raving of China and their sycophants within the American Establishment is proof enough to me that he is on the right path.

Pete Smith
Cypress, TX