Liberty's Blog

Bush Speaks Empty Words.

President Bush gives a speach challenging the Red Chinese and praising Taiwan.

In remarks sure to irritate his Chinese hosts, Bush prodded the communist nation to grant basic freedoms to its 1.3 billion people and further open its economy.

"We encourage China to continue down the road of reform and openness," Bush told an audience that stayed silent until its polite applause at the end. "By meeting the legitimate demands of its citizens for freedom and openness, China's leaders can help their country grow into a modern, prosperous, and confident nation."

His challenge to Beijing immediately followed lavish praise of Taiwan.

"By embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity to its people and created a free and democratic Chinese society," Bush said. Pointing to Taiwan - as well as South Korea - Bush said political freedoms are the inevitable product of the kind of economic liberalization China has begun pursuing.

"Men and women who are allowed to control their own wealth will eventually insist on controlling their own lives and their own future," he said. "As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed."

Comparing Taiwan and China, even indirectly, raises a major thorn in U.S.-China relations. China regards the island as its own and has threatened to invade if Taiwan declares formal independence. While U.S. policy recognizes only one China - including Taiwan - and opposes Taiwanese independence, Washington also is Taiwan's largest arms benefactor and is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself if attacked.

What Bush hasn't done is to relate our trade with Chinese progress with civil rights. As the Chinese seem have been cracking down on their citizens. He was also silent about any threat of retaliation to the communist state if they attempt a takeover of Taiwan. Although his speach is sure to upset the red communist, there is nothing behind them. No threats no promises - no stick no carrot.

Still, the call for change in China was not as tough as some on Capitol Hill and among his conservative supporters might want, as it was accompanied by praise on several fronts.

Bush recognized that economic reforms have resulted in a better-housed, better-fed populace, and he lauded China's leadership in the effort to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons programs.

But while the president said China should allow people to worship without state control - a point he hoped to underscore by visiting an officially recognized church while in Beijing - Bush did not mention China's human rights record.

Nor did he mention their guided missiles, modeled after ours, aimed at us.

posted by Liberty @ 5:09 AM