Ok, this is just out of hand. What started out as …
Ok, this is just out of hand. What started out as a quirky story of one man’s petty dissatisfaction is getting positively weird.
I knew that the Taipei Times is convinced that Lee Teng-hui is God Incarnate and that anyone who disagrees is positively evil. I knew that Richard Hartzell, since being thwarted in his goal of gaining ROC citizenship without having to give up his precious US citizenship, has been fixated on “bringing the mountain to Mohammed” by somehow twisting the omission of mention of Taiwan in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which neither the ROC nor the PRC signed or were even invited, into an argument that Taiwan actually belongs to the US, thereby making Hartzell a “citizen” of sorts (I think he actually wants some kind of governor-general position in the new administration, but who knows what kind of fantasy is running around in that convoluted mind of his). I even knew that the TSU was using Hartzell to their own goal, although I’m not sure whether Hartzell knows he’s being used or not. You’d think it would be obvious, but a lot of things that should be obvious don’t seem to get through to this man.
So I shouldn’t be surprised when I open up the browser today and see this:
Status talks needed with US: Lee
UNRESOLVED: The former president said that discussions with the US were needed to settle the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty, which has been ambiguous since WWII .
“In fact, Taiwan’s legal status has been uncertain since World War II, which has led the UN to reject Taiwan as a member and prevented Taiwan from participating in the international community and establishing relations with big countries,” Lee said.
Yeah, the US rejected Taiwan because of the SFPT didn’t mention it. Uh-huh. And I suppose the Cairo Declaration, since it doesn’t suit your needs, doesn’t count, right? Thought so.
I’ve talked with some officials at AIT; they know about Hartzell and his looney campaign. They’re hoping they don’t have to give him any more attention than he’s already got by issuing a full denial of any connection between his claims and US policy. The mere mention of the possibility that the US is even considering claiming Taiwan as a military protectorate would gain us nothing but an armed response and, very quickly, a conflict with China. The US knows this. So does Beijing. And most of the reasonable officials in Taiwan know this as well.
So why should I care, you ask? Not just because it’s dangerous, stupid, and selfish of this man to put our safety and security in jeopardy for his own personal benefit, benefits he could reap just as easily if he had the guts to actually give up his US citizenship and immigrate. Sure, being attacked for no reason scares me, but I’d deal with it. But think about this: Hartzell, the TSU and some elements of the DPP are trying to convince the population at large that the US would jump right in and help Taiwan if Taiwan would only make a formal declaration of either independence or being formally part of the US. As most reasonable people know, America might aid us in an unprovoked attack. International opinion would hold some sway there, but more seriously, it would mean that China was willing to engage in military aggression without provocation.
If Taiwan were to make the first move, however, the US could and most likely would stay out of it. No matter what the radical greens would have you believe, such a move by Taiwan would be, to the international community, the first strike in the inevitable conflict. We would be seen as having brought it upon ourselves. The international community would be split, the US wants to avoid war with China if it possibly can. And it would.
And all of the white people in Taiwan, assumed to be American, would instantly be identifiable as symbols of the country that, after promising to help us fight China and defend us in our hour of need, simply decided to stand by and watch us go down in flames.
Yeah, they’ll just love Americans then. The streets might not be safe, but standing in line at the airport, clutching his US passport in his pudgy hand, I think Richard Hartzell would be just fine.
