Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (79 page)

 
          
“Senator,
I don’t need a treaty or membership in an alliance to make a commitment to a
friendly, peaceful, democratic nation,” the President said. “I’ve pledged my
support, because I don’t think that
China
or anyone else has a right to impose its
will by force on another country.”

 
          
“Mr.
President, my legal experts, as well as several think tanks we’ve commissioned,
not to mention the Congressional General Accounting Office itself, have all
taken a position that in a legal sense, Chinese Taipei is not a separate nation
but in fact a
province
of
China
, as
Beijing
has asserted since 1949,” Finegold said.
“As I see it, that’s the only logical conclusion that can be made. The
Nationalist government fled the mainland and established a rebel government on
the
island
of
Formosa
, which was Chinese territory recently
returned to
China
from Japanese occupation. The Nationalists were nothing more than a
deposed government.

 
          
“The
fact that the
United States
supported the Nationalists’ goal of someday
retaking control of the mainland government, or that the Nationalists occupied
the seat in the United Nations, doesn’t alter the facts,” Finegold went on.
“The government in Beijing is the lawful and legitimate government of all the
Chinese people, a fact which has been recognized by the United States since
1972 and by most of the rest of the world; and the Nationalist government is
not the legitimate government, and therefore has no right to declare
independence or ask for assistance from anyone, especially the United States of
America. The conflict between
China
and
Taipei
is an internal matter, and therefore we
have no responsibility to risk American lives or threaten the peace of the
world by getting involved militarily in that conflict.”

 
          
“Do
you really believe this nonsense, Senator?” the President asked scornfully.
“Can you seriously look at those two countries and then tell me that you truly
believe that the Republic of China is nothing more than a deposed government
living on an isolated province?”

 
          
“Mr.
President, what I believe is that Chinese Taipei is running out kicking
mainland
China
in the shins, then running behind the
United States
’ skirts—and
we
get the bloody nose from it,” Finegold said. “
Taipei
is not an innocent victim here. As long as
they continue to illegally declare independence and try to instigate nuclear
conflicts, they are dangerous. What purpose do you have for backing them?”

 
          
“The
Republic of China meets the traditional benchmarks that the
United States
has applied to any nation seeking
assistance in the last sixty years,” Secretary of State Jeffrey Hartman
interjected. “We require the new nation to have formed a pluralistic,
democratic government with a written constitution, based on free, open, and
regular elections with universal suffrage; we require a formal exchange of
credentialed ambassadors; we require the new nation to provide for the common
good, the common defense, and provide free and open access to its markets and
communication between its people and the rest of the world; we require that the
new nation apply for membership in the United Nations; and we require that the
new nation openly and publicly ask for our assistance. The Republic of China
has met each and every one of these criteria, Senator.”

 
          
“In
fact, Senator,” Vice President Ellen Whiting interjected, “
Taiwan
has met more of these five traditional
criteria than other nations that you have supported in the past have done, such
as
Bosnia
,
Kurdistan
, and
East Timor
.
Taiwan
has proven to be a strong and true friend
to the
United States
.”

 
          
“One
that apparently is taking advantage of this friendship to attack mainland
China
, oblivious to threat of global nuclear
war,” House Minority Leader Crane argued. He now saw his role in this debate as
Barbara Finegold’s defender.

 
          
“I
seriously doubt that
Taiwan
is oblivious to the nuclear threat, Mr. Crane,”
Secretary of Defense Arthur Chastain pointed out, “since it has just recently
been devastated with nuclear attacks three times as severe as
Japan
ever endured.”

 
          
“I
didn’t mean that Chinese Taipei hasn’t been hurt by recent attacks by
China
, and I certainly don’t mean to blame the
dead,” Crane said. “But it was
Taipei
’s aggression that started this entire
series of conflicts.”

 
          
“My
intelligence information suggests otherwise, Mr. Crane,” the President said. “
China
was, and still is, in position to invade
the
island
of
Quemoy
—there’s no doubt about this.
Taiwan
was acting in selfdefense when the attack
first started on the Chinese aircraft carrier. The other incidents involved a
carefully calculated string of actions by
China
to make it appear that
Taiwan
was the aggressor, when in fact it was
China
all along. ”

 
          
“Of
course, I’ve heard this one from your advisor’s press briefs— China attacked
its own carrier with torpedoes, China put transmitters on its own ferryboat to
make us think it was a warship, China planted a nuclear device on the
Independence
, and China even shot a
nuclear missile at its own ally, North Korea, to make us think that the United
States or South Korea or some other boogeyman was diverting attention away from
China by starting another war. ”

 
          
“Those
are the facts, Mr. Crane,” National Security Advisor Freeman cut in.

 
          
“There’s
plenty of doubt about your so-called facts, General Freeman,” Crane argued
hotly. “But I have plenty of questions about the role that secret B-52 bomber
played in igniting the conflict! I think that’s the question facing us this
afternoon, Mr. Martindale!”

 
          
“I
suggest you calm down and be careful how you address the President, Mr. Crane,”
Jerrod Hale cut in.

 
          
“Relax,
everyone, relax,” Finegold said, holding up her long, slender fingers to both
Crane and Hale. “We’re not here to accuse or make demands.” She allowed a few
moments of silence in the room; then: “Mr. President, we in the Congress want
to get behind you in this—”

           
“The House is one hundred percent
behind the President already,” House Majority Leader Nicholas Gant interjected,
“and there seems to be a floor fight brewing concerning your blatant, public
criticism of the President. Whatever disharmony is present on the Hill is from
your
media tirades, Senator Finegold!”

           
“We realize the tremendous pressure
you’re under, and we want nothing more than to show a united front to
China
and the rest of the world,” Finegold went
on, ignoring Gant’s comments. “You are the nation’s chief diplomat, but you
should not operate in a foreign-affairs vacuum. Give me something positive I
can take back to the Hill, something that shows we have room to compromise,
something that shows we’re not being intractable and demanding.”

 
          
“I
made a decision, and I’m sticking with it, Senator,” the President said. “It
might not be comfortable or popular, but I’ve got no choice. I’m counting on
Congress’s support, but I’m prepared to continue on without it.”

 
          
“Mr.
President, the financial markets are collapsing, the price of oil is nearly at
a record high, and our allies are in a panic about whether or not you’re
leading them to the brink of World War Three,” Crane said. “You’ve suddenly got
nuclear missiles and stealth bombers all over the place, threatening a nuclear
showdown with
China
. With
Hong
Kong
and
Macau
rejoining the PRC,
China
is one of the world’s richest countries and
America
’s largest trading partner by far. You may
have already destroyed any chance we had of normalizing relations and expanding
trade with
China
. If there is any chance of salvaging some ties with
China
, you’ve got to reverse this deadly course
you’ve set us on.”

 
          
“You’re
suggesting we sell out
Taiwan
, Mr. Crane?” the President asked. “Do you
think it would be a good idea to simply abandon them now? ”

 
          
“You
don’t have any choice, Mr. President—unless you’re ready and willing to fight
China
, economically and militarily, and risk a
nuclear war,” Crane responded. “According to the news reports,
China
is apparently ready to start the occupation
of Nationalist Taipei by invading
Quemoy
and
Matsu
Islands
with
four
hundred thousand troops.
We can’t stop that many Chinese troops from moving
forward.

 
          
“Face
reality, Mr. President—the island of Formosa and the Nationalist army have been
blasted to hell, South Korea is on alert for its own invasion from the north
and is under its own nuclear threat, Iran is threatening to close the Strait of
Hormuz again because they caught us with our hands in the cookie jar, and
Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the Philippines won’t let U.S. troops stage
combat operations from their islands,” Crane went on hotly. “And even if they
did, it would take months to put together an invasion force, and they’d be
under constant threat from Chinese air and rocket assaults. The death toll
would be enormous. And then if
China
decided to mobilize its entire army? That’s
nearly
two million
active-duty
soldiers, and almost
two hundred million
reservists,
paramilitary, border guards, militia, and national police.

 
          
“You
have
got
to think of something else,
Mr. President! There’s no way you can win! You’ve lost any tactical advantage
we ever had. The only way to dislodge
China
’s troops and stop them from reoccupying
Taiwan
is to use nuclear weapons, and we in
Congress, on both sides of the aisle, will not support such a move. And we’re
willing to make that a public statement.”

 
          
“The
President of the
United States
does not respond to threats or blackmail,
Mr. Crane,” Vice President Whiting said angrily. “Not from the Chinese, not
from the Iranians, not from the North Koreans—and not from a
U.S.
congressman.”

 
          
“No
one is threatening anyone here, Madame Vice President,” Barbara Finegold said.
She decided to use a bit gentler approach in trying to reach the President:
“Mr. President, the Chinese government’s suggestion is rational and logical,
and it’s in the best interests of the
United States of America
.” Martindale made an exasperated “here we
go again” expression, but Finegold went on quickly: “Mr. President, if China
unites with Taiwan, the industrial and financial nation that results will be
the largest potential marketplace ever conceived on this planet. Nearly a
billion customers, many of whom are still living in turn-of-the-century
conditions. Think of the investment needed to bring those people up to Western
living standards.”