Tsai’s Visit to the US a Success
Tsai’s visit to the US looks like a great success. The messages (especially about Taiwan Consensus) from the DPP side seems to be well conveyed to the US officials and diplomats. Communication seems like a simple task but in Taiwan’s case it’s very difficult, and this visit seems like a great break through in communicating DPP’s thinking to the US…this is something DPP was not able to accomplish for many years. Of course, expecting this visit to result in some sudden major changes would be unrealistic, but so far this looks like a great improvement.
So it looks like selecting Tsai as the Presidential candidate was indeed the right choice, or the best choice for DPP and Taiwan in the current circumstances. It looks like her style is going through things step by step at the right pace, and be well prepared. DPP first completed its 10 years policy outlook, and then have a well prepared visit to the US to convey the ideas to the decision makers and Taiwanese in the US. Nothing is rushed or half-baked. I am more and more convinced that Tsai is the right type of leader Taiwan needs right now.
What do you make of the Financial Times’ story about the “un-named U.S. official”?
yea…I also heard an un-named US official said that he likes eating hot dogs.
PS. Mr. Turton has blasted this one quite a bit…you can take a look here: http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/
I’ve read Mr. Turton’s post, Dixteel – but if an unnamed official had said that the U.S. administration was abolutely confident that a Tsai administration can handle things, I’m sure it would have been a different story, and the reactions from the blue and green camp would have been mostly mirror-inverted (with one point in the argument being identical – the hope that Washington will maintain a neutral stance, re the elections).
Don’t get me wrong – I wish Tsai success, and I don’t see a great future either in Ma Ying-jeou’s foreign, nor his domestic/economic policies. But the pressure China is exerting – no matter how unjustified this pressure may be – needs to be addressed, not talked away. Hushing up inconvenient issues, or “blasting” them, may be an option for People’s Daily, but not for open societies.
Well, what FT reported really does not mean much to me. FT have discredited itself more than once in my mind. IMO, FT should stick with its core competency, which is on finance, instead of global politics, because it has proven to me in the past that it really sucks at it. This is my opinion, you can believe which ever way you want, of course.
Like I said before though, the US government have niches that hold different opinions. For example, the Pentagon and the State Department have different opinions on a lot of different things, and different groups in the Pentagon might have different opinions as well, for example. A lot of US officials also have large business connection in China. Keep that in mind.