Protest in Taiwan

This protest (click "cancel" when prompted to install the language pack) should remind us that Taiwan deserves more U.S. support. The Bush administration does not want to rankle Beijing, and, as William Kristol and Ellen Bork reported earlier this month, some officials in the administration have complained that an upcoming referendum in Taiwan on defense spending and military reform in response to the threat posed by the mainland is a political maneuver to gain support in the upcoming election.

Taiwan has nearly 500 missiles pointed at it from the largest dictatorship in the world. It is arguable that tensions have worsened and that so many missiles are pointed at the island because U.S support has been wobbly. Anyone who is pleased about the proliferation of cell phones in China and rising commodity prices resulting from seemingly insatiable Chinese demand (inflation notwithstanding) should think again about whether this dictatorship is truly becoming a liberal democracy. That includes the current administration.