Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Our China

John McCain finds a few spare minutes between attacks on Barack Obama for stuff that happened when Obama was a child to issue a statement on US weapon sales to Taiwan. He supports such sales -- since the weapons would be pointed at a non-member of his proposed League of Democracies -- on various grounds, including:

These sales -- which could translate into tens of thousands of jobs here at home -- would help retain America's edge in the production of advanced weaponry and represent a positive sign in these difficult economic times.

In other words, the US should be out in the global marketplace selling weapons even more than usual, because there's a recession. It's as if there is a "military-industrial complex", if you will. But lest the main point be lost in all the contracts --

we should understand that the possibility of productive ties between Taiwan and China are enhanced, not diminished, when Taipei speaks from a position of strength

his position thus being that the US has to sell enough hardware and otherwise back up Taiwan so that it could handle a war with China. This from a man whose secondary campaign slogan (after "Country First") is Reform, Prosperity, Peace. Indeed.

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