Was this a blunder? Yes. Could it have serious ramifications for our relationship with China and stability in East Asia? Quite possibly. Yet, the current Chinese regime is a menace. It's an oppressive, exploitative dictatorship that silences dissent, kills and jails opponents, consistently violates basic human rights, abuses Tibet and its Muslim minority in the west, and is building up its military and economic power. This is not a country we should be rewarding with lucrative trade deals and any form of friendliness. I'm the last person who'd want a war, but I also don't want our country contributing to the continued existence of this awful regime. Taiwan should be given more recognition and preference until China can clean up its act.
Do you think we're making trade deals with China out of the kindness of our hearts? The United States, like every country in the world since forever, only freely signs deals where we believe we will benefit. And with the huge increase of imports AND exports over the last few decades its clear we HAVE benefited. It is irresponsible and self destructive to threaten that trade for no reason and without even the possibility of gain for the Taiwanese, Chinese, or American people.
Oh please. You know damn well those trade deals were not designed with the interests of ordinary Americans in mind. They were written by the wealthy and for the wealthy in our country so they could use cheap Chinese labor and take advantage of their lax regulations as a way to undermine domestic labor costs and regulations and break domestic labor unions in the process. It's no coincidence that wages have stagnated over the same time period manufacturing moved over to China.
