As I read the headlines I see that China is in them an awful lot. Nancy Pelosi was warned not to go to Taiwan by the Chinese Government. Of course she went as she should have. The Chinese should never have tried to bully her into not going. Yes, I know that China considers Taiwan a threat but how much of a threat are they? I am pretty sure that the coast of Mainland China is safe from invasion.  What Taiwan is really, is a group of people that didn’t want to submit to Communist Chinese rule so they fled the China to the Island of Taiwan. They lost the civil war and fled. That is a little more common in history than most would think. We had our own Tories that fled to Canada than to side with the new government being establish in the Colonies. What makes Taiwan so unique, in my opinion, for almost 3 decades the Taiwan Government was considered the legitimate government of China ignoring the fact that a billion Chinese lived in mainland China. China was one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945 but that was Republic of China not the Peoples Republic of China.  By 1949 all of mainland China was under the authority of the Peoples Republic and the Republic of China that had fled to Taiwan. The Peoples Republic of China or as the PRC was not recognized by the United Nations until 1971. About one third of the world’s population was not represented in the United Nations for over 20 years. We did not formally recognize the PRC as the legitimate China until the Carter administration. We can argue the right and wrongs of what happened but it had to have caused a few scars. In 1968 I participated in a debate in school on whether the Peoples Republic on China should be allowed in the United Nations. At the time the population of China was about one third of the world population and my argument was how can the United Nations pretend that a third of the world did not exist? I thought it was a great argument but I think I lost the debate because in 1968 we still had fear of the great Communist threat.

I write about the history of this situation so people may be able to understand what has led us to where we are today. To understand the future you must be able to understand the past. I will be honest with you. I have no problem with two Chinas. I think in the World there is plenty of room for both. I think that if there is any reconciliation between the two it must be at the negotiating table and not by force. We have to move past the mistakes of the past and work toward a prosperous future and both appear to be prospering.  We have been allies with the Taiwan Government from the beginning and I think it has moved beyond the Communist scare to one of economics. Yes, the Communist threat is still there but we are strong economic partners with both. I think that Taiwan is also invested in China so I think that it is time to move beyond the tough talk a start taking a more realistic approach to the problem. Communist China can say Taiwan has always been part of China but one thing can be honestly said. Taiwan has never been part of Communist China. Taiwan is farther away for China than Cuba is from the United States mainland and I don’t view Cuba as much of a threat and China should not think that Taiwan is much of a threat.

As much as our economies are intertwined I think that there is great opportunity to strengthen our relationship with China instead of letting it deteriorate. We need honest and open dialog and not this saber rattling. We never had the economic ties to the Soviet Union that we have with China so we have much more to build on. I think instead of treating them as an adversary we need to approach them more as a partner. Not all partnerships are people singing Kumbaya. Some partnership will always be a work in progress because both sides have to be winners. I think we can have that with China but it will always be a work in progress.

I agree with Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan.  I agree with our support of the Taiwan Government. I also believe in a stronger partnership with China. One that is built a mutual respect and working together for the betterment of both of our great nations and the world. I think that the war between Russia and the Ukraine has shown the world how devastating a war can be on a nation’s economy. Even if Russia would prevail the damage that has been done to their economy will take generations to recover. I think we would be pretty foolish not to open dialog with China not for world dominance but for world stability. We are stronger with friends and China is stronger with friends so this make sense to me. I would love to see the President of the United States make regular trips to China. I would love to see the President of China make regular trips to the United States. Stability around the world can only happen if we keep on talking.