The Guardian: Trump doesn’t read history… Murderous ignorance
The Guardian newspaper published an article by writer Simon Tisdale, titled “China is pressuring Taiwan thanks to Trump’s weakness and reluctance”.
The dangerous role that political ignorance plays in pushing the world towards catastrophic conflicts, referring to the crisis between China, Taiwan and the United States.
Mutual ignorance between countries is the spark of major wars, whether from Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States in 1941, the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Saddam Hussein’s attack on Kuwait in 1990, and then today between China, Taiwan and Japan.
China believes Taiwan will accept the Hong Kong model, the very system that the world sees as a nightmare tale of repression, brutal security laws, and censorship.
China’s efforts to impose economic and diplomatic isolation on the island are bolstered by espionage, cyber sabotage, mass surveillance, foolish lies, conspiracies and disinformation, prompting Taiwan to raise defense spending by $40 billion.
According to Tisdale, China’s current strategy toward Taiwan, describing it as an anaconda strategy of gradual strangulation, diplomatic isolation, economic pressure, and demoralization until Taiwan surrenders without war.
The article criticizes US President Donald Trump for not understanding the seriousness of the situation, for his fluctuating positions, for his preoccupation with trade deals and for not providing any public guarantees to Taiwan, saying that “Trump doesn’t read history… His ignorance is deadly”.
“Trump’s submission to the Chinese president has fueled fears in Taipei that he is an untrustworthy person,” the article adds.
At the end of his article, Tisdale makes projections from history on the present, according to which concession to the aggressor in the hope of preventing him from waging war won’t achieve peace but will promote expansion and conquest.
