Used to be a really big fan, so it’s sad to see she’s fallen under the spell of Taiwan’s saviour, its sainted Ma-ssiah:
His name is Ma Ying-jeou, and he is almost too good to be true. Fifty-seven years old, he is a handsome man of vigor and intelligence who as a child mastered Chinese classics and calligraphy, who holds a doctorate of juridical science from Harvard University (1981), and who is the head of Chiang’s old Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party.
Well, it IS almost too good to be true that Ma was elected president – too good to be true for China, that is. Especially after "little elder brother" labored so mightily to block the special arms bill for weapons that were intended for the defense of Taiwan from Beijing’s predations. How obediently Ma danced to China’s tune, blocking that bill around sixty times over a two year period!
Asked about the fate of Taiwan’s companies in China in the case of a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan, he answered sagely, "Actually, if more Taiwan companies are investing in coastal China, I doubt very much the Chinese could attack — their missiles would be threatening their own companies."
Somewhere in that sagely response, Ma obviously forgot to mention that outright confiscation of private property is something that would never, ever, EVER occur to leaders of China’s COMMUNIST party. Why, it’s just INCONCEIVABLE that the acolytes of Lenin or Mao would do such a thing to equipment and capital belonging to citizens of an ENEMY COUNTRY. During WARTIME.
Maybe Ma’s right – if you can’t trust Marxists to play by Marquis of Queensbury rules, who CAN you trust?
I don’t know about this particular situation, but I’ve noticed that Georgie Ann Geyer hasn’t gotten much right in 5 or 6 years. Every since 9-11, and certainly since OIF, she’s taken a Buchananite position on American foreign policy.
*
*
Haven’t read much of her stuff for a long time, to be honest. But her book on Fidel Castro, “Guerilla Prince,” was terrific, as was her memoir of her experiences as a war correspondent (“Buying the Night Flight”).
With regards to Ma Ying-jeou, this blog would probably not exist had I not gotten so ticked with the KMT boycott of the special arms bill. Or maybe not so much the actual boycott, but the ever-changing litany of disingenuous excuses the party offered in defense of their obstructionism.