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GOLDSEA | ASIAN AMERICAN POLL

U.S.-ASIA RELATIONS
(Updated 4/5/01 to reflect the 100 most recent responses.)

Which of the following nations will be the U.S.'s most important Asian diplomatic partner in the 21st century?
China | 34%
Taiwan | 20%
Corea | 21%
Japan | 25%

Which of the following should be the U.S.'s top Asia-policy objective?
Keep China from attacking Taiwan | 25%
Promote peaceful reunification of Corea | 22%
Keep Japan from becoming a military power | 21%
Bring home all U.S. troops stationed on Asian soil | 32%

Comments on the U.S.'s Asia policy:


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What You Say

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     This Hainan incident shows the need for the U.S. to do more quiet negotiating and engage in less public posturing. In the end that would have made Bush look better, instead of issuing some tough statements then backing down to issue a quasi apology. The whole thing could have blown over more quietly. On the other hand, it could have been a lot worse. I'd give Bush a B- on this one.
Fair Grader

     i meant, "LIVE" in peace, not "leave" in peace. goodness, i'll be more careful next time.
a female AA

     I wish China would let the Tibetans and the Buddhists there leave in peace. All the destruction, persecution, and killings by the Chinese government in Tibet just sickens me. I wish China would let the Tibetans and Buddhists leave in peace. Yeah, I know, it'll never happen in our lifetimes. Just wishful thinking on my part.
a female AA

     Now that the Hainan incident is providing Bush with the opportunity to give into the rightwing elements in his administration, we AA can expect some nasty attention from the bigots in our society. This is the time for us to stick together and not give the hawks a reason to turn the various Asian nationalities against each other.
Seen it Before

     As long as China remains a communist nation which denies basic fundamental rights such as freedom of religion and speech to its people, China will remain an enemy to the United States as well as all democracies of the world. The only reason the U.S. has shown restraint with China is the fact the U.S corporations have a stake in China and they want to exploit this. Thus we have a conflict. I believe the U.S should reduce the number of military personnel in Asia but a presence is still neccessary. The U.S. policy in Asia should be to promote peace and protect their interests. As for the person who stated the U.S. should have befriended China as an ally during WWII - China would have helped the U.S. defeat Japan about as much as France helped the Allies defeat Nazi Germany!
Marcus A.V.

     I have something to say about the US using WEN HO LEE as a scapegoat.
     Why is the US blaming on WEN HO LEE for stealing nuclear secrets and passing them on to China. Why is the US blaming China for stealing nuclear secrets?
     Is Russia NOT stealing US secrets? Is US not stealing Russia/China Secrets? If not then what the HELL those CIAs are doing in China or Russia. I hope we're not spending taxpayer's money for those CIA guys to go sightseeing abroad.
     Everyone is stealing everyone's secrets. So why is the WEN HO LEE case such a big deal?
     If a spy happens to be a caucasion, like FBI's Robert Hansen, get caught, do we blame the country where his ancestor came from. I'm sure his grandparents were from somewhere in Europe, either France or italy. So why is the US not blaming on France or Italy? Then why is the US blaming China when someone with a Chinese Origin was thought to spy on the US?

     In reply to a previous post, US has only been selling defensive anti-missile equipment to Taiwan. Believing in the "One China" policy is one thing, but maintaining safety, democracy, and economic stability is the other side of the issue. Taiwan has been a close to a model "state" to Asia, politically and economically, so it is in the US's interest to protect Taiwan from any chance of invasion from the mainland. The Mainland has been known to throw tantrums (ie. "missile testing" during Taiwan's election)The "One China" policy calls for a reunification of the two states, but certainly, US can only allow the reunification to be under peaceful circumstances, thus, selling defensive anti-missile equipment to Taiwan will not interfere with the policy.

     Perhaps the US should pull it's military out of all asian countries, stop ALL trade with ALL asian nations and see how asia handles itself over the next 100yrs on it's own. Let the chaebols, koretzus etc. fall into the same disrepair as North Korea's juche system has. Anyone know what the juche system was supposed to be? No more Boeings, Motorolas and Hewlett Packards. Why can't the brilliant chinese provide their own capital and technology? I wonder how Vietnam is doing right now? May'be some Canadian homosexual molesters will discover the same delights there, as they have in Cuba and asia can rely on the generosity of gay tourists. Does anyone remember Japan's WWII cry "asia for asians"?
angry at the comments made so far

     Now that Bush is Prez, we can expect the U.S. to play more hardball with China and drag us into yet another cold war. Bush has to push the missile plan to make his defense-industry buddies happy. So who loses? We do, the Asian Americans who have to live with all the anti-Asian sentiments this will stir up!

     Whoever wrote that comment about Japan not having nuke and China having it all..blah blah blah. Do you actually want to see China threatening other countries with nuclear weapons?? Geez...if that happens, there will be an even great anti-commie scare than there is now. Obviously Taiwan needs some weapons too in order to fend off the hostile China. China is just another Soviet Union if it becomes powerful...and here we go into the Cold War again.

     First of all the United States should stop selling arms to Taiwan, after all they do believe in "one China policy" then why on earth are they still sellling it to Taiwan? The United States is not helping at all infact its stirring up the heat between the two sides. United States is such a backstabbing nation towards the Chinese government. And this is for that person who said Japan could arm itself in 10 years. First of all Japan cannot rearm itself within 10 years, second why would they want to do that what could they achieve? third the USA would not sit idle by, and fourth China would sit and watch Japan turn to a militaristic nation again; Japan doesnt have nuke, but China does, and in rocket science, China is much more better than Japanese rockets. Japan would not have a chance to take over any asian nation especially China, are they willing to risk a direct Nuclear confrontation with China? I DONT THINK SO!

     Considering that the US occupation has left a legacy of over 100,000 amerasians (a 1988 est. that is increasing with 20,000 being from Vietnam; but also including Japan/Okinawa, Corea, Philippines, Thailand) who are still economically disinfranchised, exploited and abused; and the few occupied territories the U.S. has pulled out of were no better/no worse (e.g. Philipines - 1991-92 - so much for "democracy"/rebuilding a country) - yes, the U.S. needs to pull out/occupy in a more humane way.
     Also, aside from being a huge expenditure for the military budget to supply troops and maintain arsnal, the humanity in occupation is next to nil (for either the troops/occupying forces or the occupied . . . despite economic benefits). It's better to give aid through the IMF and other sources. We need to take care of our children (amerasians), bring our troops/young people home, and repair the damage done to the countries occupied.

     Whatever the outcome may be, we must let China resolve the Taiwan issue without interference. Any interference now would only ensure another 100 years of military confrontation to the detriment of people on both sides of the Straits and both sides of the Pacific. The key here is to let China and Taiwan resolve this themselves! --Farsighted Chi-Am

     Not only US's Asia policy is naive, USA justice and foreign office officials are nuts. If Taiwan-born Wen Ho LEE was arrested,charged against downloading secret information to Mainland China and imprisoned for 9 months ending with a plea agreement, it would be threatening to all Asians or Racial Minorities in USA. --Planet Observer to true USA Democracy

     American Values in Dire Straits
     http://www.antiwar.com/chu/chu-col.html
     High anxiety in the Taiwan Straits following Republic of China (ROC) President Lee Teng-hui's "two nations" challenge to the People's Republic of China raises the question: How should patriotic Americans respond to the Taipei-Beijing confrontation?
The answer is: Americans who revere our heritage of freedom and independence must have the courage to defy 1990's political correctness and uphold core American values – by politely but firmly refusing to intervene, regardless of one's sympathies.
As George Washington stated in his Farewell Address of 1796: "The Great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. . . . ‘Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign World."
Condensing Washington's 18th century idioms into bumper sticker-ese: "trade with either, side with neither."
     Meanwhile, the Taiwan Relations Act, which should have gone the way of the Berlin Wall, is exactly the kind of pernicious "permanent Alliance" with a "portion of the foreign World" the Father of our Country urged us to steer clear of.
     Washington was hardly alone. His resolute opposition to foreign intervention was shared by all the Founders. Neither he nor the other Founders intended any exceptions to be made for Kosovo or Taiwan.
     As James Madison put it, "it has been the true glory of the United States,” in “fulfilling their neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality . . . to maintain sincere neutrality toward belligerent nations,” and “to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities." Thomas Jefferson concurred, declaring that the foreign policy of a free society has to mean “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nations – entangling alliances with none." "Our first and fundamental maxim should be, never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe." Ditto Asia.
     As John Quincy Adams, author of the Monroe Doctrine put it, "America... does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Americans must summon up the backbone to resist the moral guilt-tripping of the Gauleiters of the New World Order. We must uphold Madison's wise and principled admonition to exclude "foreign intrigues and foreign partialities" by staying the hell out of the ongoing Chinese Civil War in the Taiwan Straits in 1999, just as China refrained from siding with either the Union or the Confederacy during the American Civil War in 1861.
As a first generation naturalized American I am all too aware that my patriotism is presumed suspect by many China-haters in Congress simply by virtue of my race and my national origin. Never mind that I am from Taiwan – that didn't help Lee Wen-ho – and currently live in Taipei. Never mind that my parents live in Taiwan too. Never mind that, like Joe Sobran and Jude Wanniski, I was a Cold Warrior slightly to the right of Richard Nixon. I know by advocating policies which appear "soft on communism" red flags (pun intended) will go up in the fevered minds of China Threat theorists determined to "go abroad in search of monsters to destroy."
I could keep my mouth shut and my head down. But genuine patriotism demands that Americans defend the ideals of our Founding Fathers, and speak up for what is authentically American, and not meekly acquiesce, like "good Germans" or "good Japanese" in the 1930's, to the mainstream consensus while our nation continues its downward slide into imperial decadence.
     Americans must have the guts to flatly reject any attempts by foreign lobbyists, fellow travelers, and domestic politicians in the service or on the payroll of either Taipei or Beijing to draw America into what Washington termed "controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns.” We must do so without hesitation and without apology, because contrary to what is politically correct in 1999, unyielding adherence to James Madison's "most scrupulous impartiality" and "sincere neutrality" is the fullest and most genuine expression of enduring American values. It is late in the day, but not too late to save our republic.

     Asia's proplems would just start all over again if the U.S. pulled out all its troops. We're the only ones that enjoys enough trust to keep China, Japan and Corea from each other's throats. Those GIs over there are money well spent as preventative medicine.

     Japan could rearm and take East Asia again within 10 years because it's that advanced. That's what we should be worrying about more than China which is just a big poor country that's barely keeping afloat.

     As long as we keep alienating China, we'll never make any lasting progress in Asia. China can be our friend or our enemy. So far we have kept pushing them toward being our enemy. It's stupid and sad. If we recognized China as our potential ally in Asia back in WW2, we may have avoided a lot of bloodshed then and during the Vietnam War.

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