On an island and its enemy; a death-row case in Japan; lowriding in America; scenes from Central Park; and more
National Day in Taiwan is October 10. “Double Ten Day,” they call it, familiarly. This month, the country’s president, Lai Ching-te, used the occasion to affirm Taiwan’s sovereignty. The country would “resist annexation or encroachment,” he said.
What happened next? I will quote the Associated Press:
China employed a record 125 aircraft, as well as its Liaoning aircraft carrier and ships, in large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands Monday, simulating the sealing off of key ports . . .
The report further said that the Chinese were “clear” about the reason for this show of force: “to punish Taiwan’s president for rejecting Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the self-governed island.”
But that was not enough. A subsequent headline reads, “China holds live-fire drills opposite Taiwan, a week after large-scale exercise.” (For the article, go here.)
Taiwan is a shining example of a free and democratic country. Moreover, it is a shining example of a Chinese country that is free and democratic. That’s one reason the dictatorship in Beijing resents and loathes it.
Can the United States deter a takeover of Taiwan by Beijing? I don’t know. I do think, however, that we should do everything possible to accomplish this deterrence.
• Chances are, Donald Trump will be president again in a few months. In June, Bloomberg Businessweek asked him about Taiwan. “Taiwan took our chip business from us,” he said. (That would be computer chips, or semiconductors.) “I mean, how stupid are we? They took all of our chip business.”
As Trump sees it, Taiwan should pay the United States for protection. “I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy. Why? Why are we doing this?”
Geostrategists and others could explain in detail.
Trump also said, “Taiwan is 9,500 miles away. It’s 68 miles away from China.”
Some years ago, on a visit to Taiwan, I met Chen-Shen Yen, a political scientist. He likened his country’s predicament to that of the Republic of Georgia: Both are close to their adversary (China, Russia) and far from their help (America and the rest of the West).
“We should trade places with Cuba,” he said, smiling. “We have similar weather, we both love baseball . . .”
• Part of Jeffrey Goldberg’s new piece in The Atlantic is this:
On separate occasions in 2020, Trump held private conversations in the White House with national-security officials about the George Floyd protests. “The Chinese generals would know what to do,” he said, according to former officials who described the conversations to me, referring to the leaders of the People’s Liberation Army, which carried out the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
Many of us, no doubt, thought of the interview that Trump gave to Playboy in 1990. He was asked about Gorbachev. “Russia is out of control and the leadership knows it,” Trump said. “That’s my problem with Gorbachev. Not a firm enough hand.”
Millions of us were relieved that the Soviet leader was more lenient, less murderous, than his predecessors.
Trump’s interviewer asked, “You mean firm hand as in China?”
The future president answered, “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”
That’s one way of looking at it.
• “Amnesty International today designated three prominent human-rights defenders from Hong Kong and mainland China as prisoners of conscience.” To read about this, go here. Amnesty has a clear definition of a “prisoner of conscience”: someone imprisoned for what he thinks, not for what he has done (e.g., an act of violence).
The three new designees are the human-rights lawyers Chow Hang-tung and Ding Jiaxi, and the entrepreneur Jimmy Lai. Two great men, one great woman. Think of them.
• A headline from Tuesday: “Russia and Iran may fuel violent post-election protests in the U.S., intelligence officials warn.” (Article here.) Patriotic hearts should revolt.
• A different report begins,
A Japanese police chief on Monday apologized in person to Iwao Hakamada for his decades-long suffering that started from an overbearing investigation and wrongful conviction that had kept him on death row until last month, when he was acquitted in a retrial.
Hakamada is 88. He was arrested in 1966.
Arguments for the death penalty, I have great respect for. Always have, always will. Walter Berns articulated them powerfully. But it is a very problematic practice.
• Do you know about lowriding? Where I come from, when I was growing up, “lowriding” and related words were sort of pejorative. “Ooh, there goes Miguel, in his lowrider.” But have a look at this — an extensive report: “Lowriding is more than just cars. It’s about family and culture for Mexican Americans.”
• News from the world of sports?
A British chestnut-whacking champion was cleared Monday of cheating after an investigation into alleged malfeasance at the World Conker Championships.
Organizers of the nutty annual event said that Dave Jakins, a veteran competitor nicknamed “King Conker,” did not use a steel chestnut to conquer his rival.
That’s a relief. (This report is here.)
• Stick with Britain — and watch King Charles dance, Samoan-style: here. About this fellow, there is a joie de vivre.
• “Right whale population grows 4% but extinction remains a threat.” (Article here.) Frankly, I thought that was a typo: “white whale”? But, no, these are right whales. I would love to brush up on my biology, zoology, etc. — or simply start afresh.
• An article is headed “LeBron and Bronny James make history as the NBA’s first father-son duo to play together.” A sentence reads,
Father and son checked into the game against Minnesota simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone.
But that’s not what “enormity” means!
• Let me recommend an obituary by Clay Risen in the New York Times: “Yehuda Bauer, 98, Scholar Who Saw Jewish Resistance in Holocaust, Dies.” He made excellent use of his life, Bauer did.
• It was a sunny afternoon in Central Park. I overheard some French tourists. They were checking out an eatery in the park. Suddenly, a young woman exclaimed, “They call it ‘Le Pain Quotidien’!” Kind of amusing.
• In the Sheep Meadow (still Central Park), a youngish man threw a frisbee a long, long way. I mean, really long. “Man, that was a long throw,” I said to him. Smiling, he said, “Had some hang time. And that’s an old frisbee, too — made in ’84 or ’85.”
• Here is Central Park in the early morning, getting fall-like:
• Elsewhere in New York, the scene of an afternoon wedding:
• Well, hello, woodie! Long time no see.
• From Central Park, again, at gloaming:
Talk to you soon. Thanks much.
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