It was an April Fools’ day story that played out in the pages of the Bangkok Post 50 years ago, but the ending lies buried among the papers that the Marcos family left behind when they fled Malacañang in 1986.
In the past year, various top U.S. officials have made clear statements of American policy to the Congress and to the press. But for some reason, that clarity seems to be lacking in face-to-face encounters with Chinese.
Congress should require that the executive branch conduct astrategic survey of U.S. interests and consider the possibleramifications to America's strategic posture in the Western Pacificshould Taiwan be forced into a relationship with China that wouldpreclude U.S. strategic cooperation with Taiwan. Policy decisionsregarding China and Taiwan must be made to conform with U.S. goals.
Leaders in both China and the United States well recognize that ifrelations between their nations are to improve, China must stepaway from assertive behaviors and look for peaceful ways to improverelations with Taiwan.