Lie to Yourself at Your Own Risk

 

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower Tours Taipei in 1960

After the People's Liberation Army ran Chiang Kai-shek and his supporters out of mainland China and onto Formosa Island in 1949 the U.S. made the stupid decision to only recognize Taiwan with only 0.3% of the landmass and 2% of the population of the People's Republic of China, and not the communist government led by Mao Tse Tung. This stupidity continued all the way to 1970 when the U.S. replaced one idiocy with another: to recognize the PRC as the legitimate Chinese government and to withdraw official recognition of Taiwan.

Neither decision was smart or forward-thinking. After the Chinese Civil War, it was clear that Chiang Kai-shek had zero chance of regaining control of China. Therefore, the immature denial of obvious facts created a tense and irrational dynamic.

The facts are obvious: the People's Republic of China is the legitimate government of China and the Republic of China (the official name of the Taiwanese government), is the legitimate government of Taiwan.

Instead of recognizing these facts for what they were, the U.S. and its allies lost the opportunity to officially end the Chinese Civil War and convince the PRC to recognize Taiwan, with disastrous consequences.

Now, Taiwan is probably going to be overrun by the People's Liberation Army, the U.S. is going to be chased out of the Pacific region and Japan is in serious danger, all because the U.S. and its allies perpetuated a foolish myth.

The United States should never again perpetuate a diplomatic policy that does not fully recognize the facts as they are and that respects the diplomatic rights of all parties. We should have recognized the PRC in 1949 and we should have never agreed to go along with the "One China" policy.