Why Taiwan finds Washington unreliable

Posted By Daniel Blumenthal Monday, October 11, 2010 - 10:51 AM

Over the past decade, Washington's Taiwan policy has created unnecessary dilemmas for Taiwan's political leadership. On the one hand, if a president of Taiwan is considered too provocative toward China, Washington, rightfully irritated over undue tensions, will freeze relations with the democratic island. On the other hand, if a president of Taiwan reconciles with China, Washington's impulse is to neglect relations, confident that the cross Strait "problem" is resolving itself. It's a small wonder why many Taiwanese believe that Washington is unreliable.

President Chen Shui-bian faced the former from Washington. While no one in Taiwan doubted that he would protect Taiwan's de facto independent status and its hard won democracy, or fight for its international dignity, he lost the confidence of Washington and then his own people when relations with both China and the United States soured.

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PATRICK LIN/AFP/Getty Images

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EXPLORE:EAST ASIA, BUSINESS, CHINA, ECONOMICS, ELECTIONS, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

Google's noble withdrawal

Posted By Will Inboden Friday, March 26, 2010 - 10:57 AM

One year ago, who could have imagined that the most significant international gesture of the year on behalf of freedom in China would come not from the United Nations, the United States, or another government, but from an internet search company? Such was Google's principled decision this week to follow through on its earlier threat and withdraw from China rather than acquiesce in continued Chinese government control. Beijing reacted with predictable bluster, but I suspect the Politburo leaders were stunned when Google called their bluff and chose to lose access to the most potentially lucrative emerging market in the world rather than keep censoring itself. Google's concern was not just China's restrictions on its search results but, more ominously as my FP colleague Blake Hounshell highlighted, the co-opting of Google technology to use in surveillance and entrapment of political dissidents (not to mention from a commercial standpoint the potential theft of sensitive intellectual property). No longer was Google just complicit in restricted information flow; it was now potentially a new tool for the persecution of Chinese activists.

This recalls another recent landmark moment in the turbulent encounter between Chinese state capitalism and Western technology companies, but with a less happy outcome. The Chinese Government's overconfident posture towards Google likely drew inspiration from Yahoo's shameful capitulation to the Public Security Bureau in 2004 by turning over Chinese dissident Shi Tao, whose only "crime" was using his Yahoo email account to communicate with overseas Chinese democracy activists. Shi Tao is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Yahoo publicly admitted its role in late 2005. I was working at the National Security Council at the time, and shortly after Shi Tao's arrest, some NSC colleagues and I met with a senior Yahoo executive to get their side of the story. It was a thoroughly disillusioning meeting. The Yahoo exec maintained a defiant, defensive posture, clinging to the talking points that Yahoo was just following the local laws in the country it was working in, couldn't get involved in a "political case" like this, and besides didn't U.S. Government policy encourage economic engagement with China? To which we reminded him that U.S. policy also encouraged human rights and free speech in China, which Yahoo's actions directly undermined. Perhaps even more distressing was that the Yahoo exec made clear that his company felt no obligation, even in private, to remonstrate with the Chinese authorities over the arrest or to do anything to assist Shi Tao or his family. It was not an auspicious moment for the argument that Western technology companies will inevitably bring freedom to China. Following months of bad publicity and Congressional pressure, Yahoo eventually reversed course and expressed remorse.

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Who Deserves to be Person of the Decade?

Posted By Peter Feaver Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 12:42 AM

Peter Feaver

If the standard for this award is, “what person has had the greatest impact on global affairs,” it would have to beat President George W. Bush. If there is any doubt, the fact that President Obama still campaigns against his predecessor should put it to rest. President Bush, like President Truman, served at a time of extraordinary consequence and his legacy dominates the decade.

William Inboden

General David Petraeus. It is not just that he helped develop the new counter-insurgency strategy and troop surge that pulled Iraq back from the brink -- and for that policy and decision, President Bush and a small band of others also deserve significant credit. It is that Gen. Petraeus demonstrated that in the midst of a losing strategy, the U.S. military is capable of profound adaptation, institutional learning, and change of strategic direction in order to secure victory. This prevented the United States from possibly losing a war for only the second time in our history. And laid the foundation for the counter-insurgency strategy being implemented in Afghanistan today.

Phil Levy:

Former President George W. Bush. He was so polarizing that by the end of the decade, it was possible to win a Nobel Prize just for not being him. But he was at the center of the era's tumultuous events and it is becoming clearer that a number of his most controversial foreign policy stances -- wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and negligible progress on global environmental accords, for example -- were less tied to his idiosyncratic approach than his critics once believed. ?

Thomas Mahnken:

The American serviceman. The U.S. military has been in combat for nearly all of the decade. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have repeatedly served in roles for which they were not trained, filling in for State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development personnel who have been all too scarce in combat theaters. In the process, today’s military has become the most skilled and experienced in recent memory. Contrary to predictions on the Left, the All-Volunteer Force remains healthy: this year, for the first time in 35 years, the U.S. military met all of its annual recruiting goals.

Michael Singh

My "person" of the decade is in fact a sort of person -- the entrepreneur. At a time when the failings of certain big businesses make headlines, it is important to take note of the?individuals whose restless creativity and innovation drive economic progress. Entrepreneurs bear large personal risks in the face of uncertain rewards, but their successes underpin American economic leadership, transform the way we live, and contribute significantly to global development. In places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and the West Bank, entrepreneurs will be vital to sparking private sector growth. As the United States crafts its response to the economic crisis, it is vital that entrepreneurship and innovation be encouraged, not stifled.?

Dov Zakheim

Hamid Karzai. He has remained at the top of his tumultuous and pivotal country despite assassination attempts, corruption, and criticism from his American sponsors. It should not be forgotten that he was hailed as a hero for unifying Afghanistan for the first time in nearly 30 years.

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Shadow Government is a blog about U.S. foreign policy under the Obama administration, written by experienced policy makers from the loyal opposition and curated by Peter D. Feaver and William Inboden.