2 Posts on 2 Articles in The New York Times I
I will get to an actual policy discussion in part II of this pair of posts, but first I have to ask “what the hell is happening at the New York Times”? I am old enough to remember a time when it had actual editors, but the Journal of Record seems to be edited about as much as my posts here (spelll check if you are lucky).
First it seems that Damien Cave and Amy Chang Chien believe that Richard Nixon was president of the USA in 1979. I insert a screen capture in case some sort of editor shows up some time
RIchard Nixon visited the PRC but, when he left office, the USA still recognized the Republic of China (and its claim of authority over, among all the others, Taiwan province of the Republic of China. The USA later recognized the People’s Republic of China and ceased to assert that there still was a Republic of China. The USA did this in 1979 when Jimmy Carter was president. Now in his long long long life, Carter has been called many things, but this may be the first time he has been called “Nixonian”.
I am old enough to remember 1979. A friend said the anti soviet semi alliance with the PRC was useful but the price was very high. I asked “what price ?” The guy, who is often assessed to be rather smart, said “Taiwan”. I said something like “come on, nothing is going to really change.” I told him so.
Also I definitely remember that Richard Nixon was a disgraced private citizen at the time and that the President who made the shift was named James Earl Carter.
This is the New York Times !?! What is going on.
On a related topic at the opposite end of Asia, another article notes that the US has attacked Houthi missiles in Yemen using “cruiser missiles” as in “He did not say what weapons the United States had deployed in the attack, but previous strikes have used cruiser missiles and munitions dropped by fighter jets.” (my bold).
I wonder what happened to all our cruise missiles and what the hell “cruiser missiles” might be.
Two articles in one day.
This is the Journal of Record which recently posted a correction noting that Harvard’s endowment is greater than $500 million (neglecting to mentioni that Harvard isn’t the newest university in the USA).
What is happening ?
US diplomatic relations with Taiwan officially ended in 1979.
After the United States established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 and recognized Beijing as the only legal government of China, Taiwan–United States relations became unofficial and informal following terms of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which allows the United States to have relations with the Taiwanese people and their government, whose name is not specified. …
Over the past four decades, the U.S. government’s policy of deliberate ambiguity toward Taiwan has been viewed as critical to stabilizing cross-strait relations by seeking to deter the PRC from using force toward the region and dissuade Taiwan from seeking independence. … (Wikipedia)
Obviously, strong ties still exist between the US & Taiwan, but the die was cast …
When the United States established diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China in 1979, after President Richard M. Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972 … (NY Times)
As stipulated by the TRA, the United States remains the main provider of arms to Taiwan, which has often been a source of tension with the PRC. Both states maintain representative offices functioning as de facto embassies. Taiwan is represented by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), while the U.S. government is represented by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). … (Wikipedia)