American Footsteps in Taiwan Images

Lieutenant Colonel Scott Ellinger just sent me several great pictures of the American Footsteps in Taiwan exhibition that opened in Taipei on December 17th.  You can read about the event on the AIT website and there is a Chinese account on Yahoo News.

Patricia Linder was one of the speakers at the opening ceremony, traveling from her home here in the States for the occasion.  Her husband was Rear Admiral James Linder, the last Commander of USTDC.  I have long recommended her book "The Lady and the Tiger," an account of her experiences during their assignment in Taiwan.

Many of you will see some familiar photographs and memorabilia on display.

The USTDC emblem that was mounted on the building

Mrs Linder and President Ma

Mrs Linder addresses the audience

 The exhibition will continue through January 24th.  If you live in Taiwan, especially anywhere near Taipei, you'll certainly want to drop by the National Central Library and view this amazing collection of historical items and information.

Key Personnel - 1975

Glenn in Taipei recently sent me some listings of United States key personnel working in Taipei, including those at USTDC and MAAG.   These were published by The China News, which was Taiwan's first English paper (1949 or 1950), and which was followed by the China Post.

This is a portion of the listing for 1975 that names key personnel at USTDC, MAAG, NAMRU-2 and a few others.  Click on the images to magnify them.

American Institute in Taiwan Request

Back in November I published a request from LTC Scott Ellinger, who is at  the American Institute in Taiwan – Taipei (AIT).  He works in the Technical Section (Technical Section is the term used for the US MAAG since 1979) as the Army Programs Manager.

Scott's request was for memorabilia from former US military members who were assigned to any unit in Taiwan (USTDC, MAAG, Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine units and DoD civilians assigned to any of these units).  Items will be displayed at AIT in Taipei.  He's interested in photographs, award certificates, orders, badges, and just about anything else you can think of that helps provide a record of the American military presence in Taiwan.

He has now been asked to participate in an exhibition sponsored by the American Center in Kaohsiung.  AIT-K (AIT's branch in Kaohsiung) will host a portion of the exhibition.  The key element will be the US presence in Taiwan which will mostly cover the period 1950-1980.  Scott will be assisting with the military portion of the exhibition and will temporarily supply the few items of memorabilia that he has already collected.  This exhibition would be a great opportunity for anyone who is thinking about going back to Taiwan to see "things of the past."  Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) will also assist with this project.

As I wrote earlier, many of us have little mementos that have been in boxes in closets and basements for decades.  When we're gone, those items may or may not be of interest to anyone else in the family and this could be an opportunity to send them "home" again for display.  About the only things I still had were my "Gemo" medal from TDC and the metal USTDC badge that we wore on the shirts of our uniforms  I sent both of those items to Scott a couple of months ago.

If you would like to contribute to this project and to the permanent display at AIT, please email LTC Scott Ellinger at us_maag_taiwan@yahoo.com as soon as possible.

Taiwan Medals Recently Awarded to US Military

Vincent A. sent me the following article from the China Times:

Taiwan honors members of US Armed Forces

• Publication Date：12/15/2009
• Source： China Times

The Ministry of National Defense presented roughly 600 medals to members of the United States Armed Forces Dec.14, in recognition of the help and support given to Taiwan in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot.
Approximately 10 representatives from the U.S. Armed Forces attended the ceremony, as did William A. Stanton, director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
“We would like to offer you our great thanks for your magnanimous assistance, given as if to a brother,” said Kao Hua-chu, minister of national defense.
The 600 medals, which carried the words “In commemoration of the Typhoon Morakot rescue operations,” were handed out to all those who participated in the search and rescue operations.
Close to 500 navy personnel were on board the USS Denver, an amphibious transport dock stationed off the coast of Taiwan during the humanitarian mission, said Legislator Lin Yu-fang, who also attended the ceremony.
Other medal recipients included members of the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Seventh Fleet. Military personnel stationed in Japan, representatives of AIT, as well as members of the U.S. Defense Department were also given medals, Lin added.
One officer from the Pentagon made singular contributions to the Aug. 16-17 rescue operations, said Lin. He did not sleep for four straight days, because he had to keep in touch with the U.S. State and Defense departments by day, and at night he had to coordinate rescue operations with USPACOM, the Seventh Fleet and AIT.
The medals have a flag of the Republic of China on them. At first the MND considered including a U.S. flag as well, as a symbol of the friendship between the two nations, Lin said. But the MND thought it would be too sensitive to do so, and in the end decided against it.
“I am sure all the officers and military personnel who wear these medals will feel great pride that they participated in such a noble cause,” the legislator said.
Taiwan and the United States broke off diplomatic relations 30 years ago, and yesterday was the first time since then that Taiwan has ever given any medals to members of the U.S. military. The invitations to the American military personnel were given in secret.

Taiwan Mementos

I received the following request from Lieutenant Colonel Scott Ellinger:

History is not to be forgotten. All who were once stationed in Taiwan please look through your old boxes, scrap books, and photo albums.

I am LTC Scott J. Ellinger, currently stationed in Taiwan at the American Institute in Taiwan – Taipei. I work in the Technical Section (Technical Section is the term used for the US MAAG after 1979) as the Army Programs Manager.

Our office wants to line our hallway with items from yesteryear in honor of those who once served in Taiwan, and to maintain a history of assigned units. We want to collect old memorabilia from persons who were stationed in Taiwan with any unit (USTDC, MAAG, Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine units and DoD civilians assigned to any of these units). So far, we have chosen 10 photos (blown up to 12x18) to line the hallway (these photos were downloaded from the USTDC and Taipei Air Station BLOGs). We would like more photos to fill up the white spaces on the walls.

Secondly, the collected memorabilia items will be put into an enclosed glass casing for their permanent home.

Lastly, if anyone has write ups (or wants to do a write up) of unit histories with unit photos, please send them. A historical file is to be created.

For those who are willing contribute to this endeavor, please notify Don Wiggins.

As years go by, I often think about the mementos from my military days that I've stored away in a box somewhere. Chances are good that most of those things will mean very little to my kids and grandkids and it's likely that they'll eventually disappear.

LTC Ellinger is offering a home for photos and objects from those days that will provide a record of our service in Taiwan. I already told him that I'll be sending him the "Gemo Medal" that I received while at USTDC.

I encourage you to take a look at what you have and if there's anything that you would like to see on permanent display at AIT in Taipei, just drop me an email and I'll send you LTC Ellinger's mailing address. Note: Overseas postage is NOT necessary.

Black Marketing in Taiwan

Another hat tip today to John Quinn for identifying the Google News Archives as a resource for articles about Taiwan. There was a story in the August 21, 1965 edition of the Deseret Times (Salt Lake City, I believe) about black marketing in Taiwan that I've clipped and added below. You can click on each section to view a larger and easier to read image.

By the time I arrived at TDC in 1973, I don't recall that this was a major issue. On the other hand, as an unaccompanied guy who rarely used the commissary or the liquor store, I probably wouldn't have been impacted by it as much as many others.

I'd like to hear comments from the rest of you about this. Of course anyone directly involved in this practice would probably not want to discuss it, but what about not being able to find items in the exchange or commissary because it was finding its way to embassies or to retailers in Taipei?

PRC-Taiwan Police Exchange?

This has nothing directly to do with USTDC, but I thought it might be of interest to other Taiwan vets.

There is a report that police officers from China may be stationed in Taiwan and police officers from Taiwan may be stationed in China. The Taiwan Crime Investigation Bureau says that they are moving in that direction but that there are no firm plans at this time. An article from the Taipei Times can be found at this link.

Some Taiwan bloggers have suggested that if such an exchange occurs then it would be just a matter of time before there were military exchanges as well, which could eventually lead to a Chinese domination of Taiwan without firing a single shot. Obviously this is a very controversial and complicated issue and such exchanges may not happen for a very long time, if at all.

I know that we Taiwan vets are from another time, but I think most of us would probably prefer to see a free and independent Taiwan that is recognized by other nations of the world as a sovereign state, free from outside interference by any other nation, including China. It's one thing to encourage closer ties between these two countries, but quite another to allow Chinese police officers to exercise legal authority over the good citizens of Taiwan.

Dennis Blair

A week or so ago I wrote about Dennis Blair, who is the new Director of National Intelligence. I mentioned that he was formerly head of Pacific Command, which is the senior military authority for the entire Pacific theater. I said that I felt his background provided him with a particularly good understanding of the situation in Taiwan with regard to the People's Republic of China.

I just read a great piece about Director Blair from the January 18, 2009 edition of the Washington Times. The article, titled "Admiral takes new tack with intel position," includes this exchange between Admiral Blair and a PROC admiral:

When Adm. Dennis C. Blair was in China as commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, a Chinese admiral confronted him rather aggressively on the issue of Taiwan, warning the United States not to interfere in China's campaign to gain control of the self-governing island.

Admiral Blair listened for a minute, then said: "Admiral, let me tell you a couple of things. First, I own the water out there," gesturing toward the Pacific Ocean. "And second, I own the sky over the water out there. Now, don't you think we should talk about something more constructive?"

The anecdote, confirmed by Adm. Blair, illustrates the sort of plain speaking that characterizes the man President-elect Barack Obama has nominated to be the nation's top intelligence officer. As Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the retired admiral would be responsible for setting objectives and standards for 16 disparate intelligence agencies including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, and for coordinating their sometimes conflicting operations.

I know that this has nothing to do directly with the focus of this blog, USTDC, but I think that most of us Taiwan veterans are still concerned about the safety and self-determination of the good people of Taiwan. I am pleased to see that at least one member of the President's administration feels the same way.

Taiwan Defense

I came across an Associated Press Article titled, "US Intel Chief Warns Against China-Taiwan Conflict."

The article quotes Dennis Blair, who is President Obama's National Intelligence Director. Though not mentioned in the article, I think it's important to note that Admiral Blair was once Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. If anyone in Washington understands China-Taiwan tensions, it is him.

The article summarizes Director Blair's recent testimony before Congress regarding China's large military buildup:

Blair told lawmakers that China's double-digit annual percentage military spending increases — last year's budget jumped 17.6 percent to about $61 billion — "pose a greater threat to Taiwan."

"Unless Taiwan does something about it, then we're really the only other country helping them do it," Blair said. "That means we're going to have to help them some more in order to maintain a balance."

Much of China's military is focused on rival Taiwan, which relies on U.S. weapons and technology to counter the hundreds of missiles China aims at the self-governing island Beijing claims as its own territory.

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are a persistent source of U.S.-China tension — Beijing was infuriated by the Bush administration's announcement last year of a $6.5 billion arms package for Taiwan.

The United States is required by its own laws to provide the island with weapons to defend itself and has hinted it would come to Taiwan's aid if mainland forces invaded. But Washington is also wary of angering China, a major trading partner and fellow U.N. Security Council member.

Blair, a retired admiral who heads 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, told a Senate panel that the United States must continue to "make sure that military adventures are unattractive" to both sides. He indicated that the U.S. feels responsible for striking a balance in the Strait.

"Taiwan should not be so defenseless that it feels it has to do everything that China says. On the other hand, China cannot be so overwhelming that it can bully Taiwan," Blair said, answering congressional questions about the U.S. intelligence agencies' latest assessment of threats to the United States.

He also cautioned that "Taiwan has to realize that its long-term security lies in some sort of an arrangement with China. It does not lie in military defenses."

Director Blair's testimony provides a few clues to the administration's attitude toward Taiwan, but of course nothing in Washington is ever guaranteed. Still, it's encouraging to me that despite the many changes in our relationship with Taiwan since the U.S. Taiwan Defense Command was established back in 1955, we are still at least somewhat committed to helping them defend themselves against aggression.

I hope that nothing happens to change that commitment.

Carter's Legacy II

Barbara also sent this item:

When you were in Taiwan, did you get any of those "complimentary" copies of the "China Travel & Trade" magazine? It had colorful pictures of all the different shops around town, tips on where to go and what to do, overview of holidays & special celebrations, upcoming events, maps, money exchange rates, a "list of useful Chinese terms" etc. - all kinds of different stuff. It was a nifty thing to have.

Well, I have one of those -- No. 43 to be exact, dated Dec 1978. This calendar is in it and I found it particularly interesting. [NOTE: Click on the image to see a larger version.]

Jimmy Carter slapped our allies in the face by recognizing Peking. But when you look at this calendar, you realize the full scope and flavor of just how hard that slap was! Remember that it was Jan 1, 1979 when Carter signed on to "Full diplomatic relations with the communist government of China" and broke off all relations with Taiwan. Choosing THAT particular day must have been the ultimate insult to Taiwan. I don't know how you could explain that to someone who has never been there, do you?

The information I had at that time was that Rear Admiral Linder [COMUSTDC] didn’t even know about Carter's speech until an hour before it actually happened.

By the way, right after the riots on Taiwan, there were "unofficial" orders not talk to anyone, particularly the press. We pulled in to a gas station and this poor Taiwanese guy came up to my window with tears in his eyes and said: "Why Jimmy do it? Why Jimmy do it?" It broke my heart.

Barbara also sent a link to an archived article from Time Magazine, dated December 25, 1978. It's titled "Taiwan: Shock and Fury" and it describes the reaction that she described in yesterday's piece.

Enlisted Aides and Drivers

The USTDC Chief of Staff -- USAF Brigadier General Burrows, in my day -- had an enlisted aide. By regulation, an aide's job was to help maintain the general's quarters, assist at receptions and other social events, and pretty much do whatever else the general needed to have done. I wouldn't call them butlers, exactly, but that's probably close to how many of them served.

I don't recall the name of General Burrow's aide, but I remember him as a tall, thin, bookish looking guy with horn rim glasses. He once told me that his main job was to drive the general's wife wherever she needed to go. To avoid any possible legal or diplomatic issues resulting from an accident, he explained, she was not to drive anywhere in Taiwan.

I don't remember if General Burrows ever drove himself anywhere, but I do know that he was assigned a ROC enlisted man as his driver. Throughout the day, whenever the general had an appointment away from the building, BMC Gagne (or whoever was standing watch) would be alerted by the flag office via the squawk box to tell the general's driver to bring the car alongside. The driver was a nice guy who was pretty fluent in English, which I'm sure was a prerequisite for the job.

Anyway, back in those days the number of enlisted aides that any general had was based on his number of stars -- an aide for each star. The Air Force changed that rule a few years later and the officer then had to be a major general (two stars) before he got one aide. I don't know what the rules are today but I suppose they're something similar.

I assume the admiral (Vice Admiral Beshany, in my day) also had enlisted aides but I don't remember much of anything about them. He also had a ROC driver.

The Latter Days of USTDC

I’ve mentioned several times that I’d be interested in seeing comments from anyone who was at USTDC during and after the time that President Carter announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with the PRC. I’ve written previously about some of the turmoil during that period, but didn’t have much in the way of eyewitness accounts.

I recently heard from Les Halfhill, who was assigned to Det 3, 7602nd Air Intelligence Group, from early May 1978 to April 1979. Their offices were on the 2nd floor of the TDC building. Here’s his story:

When I arrived in Taipei, I had my ex and my five-year-old daughter with me. We were put up in a “guest house”/hotel just a block or so south of East Compound. I can’t, for the life of me, remember its name. We had a room on the top floor (4th or 5th) and ended up living there for a couple of weeks (maybe even three or four).

One of my earliest strong memories was waking up at around 3am, realizing that there was a small earthquake happening. There were several more while I was there in the guest house. But later during my tour, there were two that each measured 7.6. In one, I was in a taxi and didn’t even feel it, but the other one happened when I was at home. I was sitting on the floor in my living room, and a sound like a train going by started. But of course, there were no train tracks nearby. Just as I started to get up to go look, the quake hit and knocked me back down. Being in a quake is a strange feeling.

One of the most obvious things I noticed those first couple of weeks, as my sponsor took me around to show me the ropes, was how few people there were for the size of the facilities. Whether it was going to the commissary, to a movie at the compound, or the China Seas Club, everything was so quiet, with so few people. I think Shu Lin Kou was closed by then, and a lot of the staff was gone, compared to its peak.

I recall, in those first couple of weeks, going to the Housing Office, while first being told by my sponsor that a bottle of Johnny Walker Red would help get me into Tien Mou quicker. But I didn’t have a car, so I got an apartment within walking distance of East Compound, on Minzu East Road. From the apartment, I would take my daughter for a walk up to the Grand Hotel, then down the hill to a little park next to the China Seas Club, then on to the club for lunch or dinner. We did that regularly.

I was an Air Force E-5 at the time. I was on a “special duty assignment” to Det 3, 7602nd Air Intelligence Group. There were only four of us in the unit: A Major in command (Melvin Rooch), an E-6 Intel Specialist (Bobby Carter), me (Les Halfhill, an E-5 Admin at the time), and a GS-12 Intel type (Funston Chan). The three of us military types wore civilian clothes. I remember (faintly) that our offices were in the TDC Hq building, on the second floor. We were at the end of the hall near the TDC Commander’s offices -- seems like it was a Rear Admiral, down to the right as you faced the CO’s office.

One time [while copying some classified material], I got part way through and the copier jammed! Badly! I got out most of the pages, but some I couldn’t. So Bobby comes in to help, and we end up using a straightened-out wire coat hanger to try to hook out the pages we couldn’t get to. Then the coat hanger gets stuck! We can’t get it out! So we have to call in a copier maintenance guy, who is a Taiwanese civilian. First of all, we’re busted with a coat hanger sticking out of the machine. Then we have to worry about him seeing this classified. Well, we somehow managed to pull it off without getting burned, but it was an interesting day.

We had two Taiwanese civilians (man in his fifties, woman in her twenties), who worked in a small building behind the TDC building. I don’t remember their names, but they once took my daughter and me out to a huge dim-sum restaurant. Delicious!

I remember the Chinese typewriter they used. It had a horizontal drum a few inches in diameter and 15 inches long. In front of it was a tray with lead type (like the old-time newspapers would use to set the type for their printing presses). So the typist would have to use an arm on the typewriter to pick up an individual piece of type, which contained a single Chinese character, and then position it over the piece of paper lying around the drum, then press a button to stamp it onto the paper. They had multiple trays of type, each with a couple thousand pieces, because of the nature of [their work]. A normal Chinese typewriter wouldn’t need that many characters, and could get by with a single tray. Rather laborious, compared to even our manual typewriters, let alone our electrics.

Through my ex, I became friends with a very nice, well-to-do Taiwanese couple. I remember visiting them at their house, and them taking us to a park on Grass Mountain, and the National Palace Museum, and a resort down-island (where we had rabbit for lunch), and a beach house on the northern shore, and an authentic Japanese restaurant with great food. There were a lot of very nice people in Taiwan.

One morning (I think it was mid-December 1978), I was watching local TV at my apartment. There were crowds of people in the streets, showing obvious signs of anger and fear. I didn’t speak any Chinese, so I didn’t know what it was all about. I then got a call from Funston. He told me about President Carter's announcement of "normalization" with the PRC, that there were some problems around the city, and that I should stay home until he gave the “all clear.” That didn’t come for three days.

I heard that a mob crashed the gates of both compounds, tore down and burned US flags, broke windows, etc. Also, there was a ruckus outside the embassy/consulate and an incident at the China Seas (63) Club that I commented on earlier.

While I was waiting to get clearance to go back to the office, a Taiwanese friend stopped by and gave me a brown, silk-looking coat of Chinese style, with Chinese symbols on it. She suggested that I wear it if I went out, thinking that it might help protect me if the mobs saw a westerner wearing something in solidarity with them. I didn’t put it to the test.

Then, a couple of weeks later, Carter send Warren Christopher over to talk to the Taiwanese. It didn’t go well. I remember seeing some of it on TV, with Christopher’s caravan getting pelted with rocks, eggs, and paint. He looked scared s**t-less! I guess I would have been, too.
So the next couple of months, I was busy with preparations for leaving. I had to handle the turn-in of all our government equipment through supply channels, etc.

In March 1979, I got back to the office after a run to West Compound. Good ‘ol Bobby Carter [from the shop] greeted me by saying “Les, your orders came in. You’re going to Mogadishu. Somalia!” My first thought was, ‘What the hell?’ I guess that showed on my face so Bobby then says, “Just kidding! You’re going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.” And that’s what happened.

The last few weeks I was there, some of us were put up in a brand new hotel than had just been built a block away from the compound [sorry, don’t remember its name]. It was pretty cool living, and we got a great per diem, so I ate well at the hotel restaurant all the time.

I left Taipei on-or-about April 1st, 1979.

Status of Native Taiwan People

Back in August I wrote a little piece about the tribes of Taiwan, including a comment that the native people may have a more legitimate claim to the island than anyone else.

I just received a very interesting email from Richard Hartzell regarding a court case, "Roger C. S. Lin et. al. v. United States of America," that was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on November 3, 2008.

As Richard explains, "This court case is arguing that the native inhabitants of the Taiwan, currently under the jurisdiction of the "Republic of China" cannot be correctly classified as ROC citizens or as having any sort of Chinese nationality. There are no legal documents which can prove that Taiwan is a part of China."

Back in the days when we were all stationed on Taiwan, we were mostly concerned about helping the "good" Chinese (ROC) defend themselves against the "bad" Chinese (PROC). This case, however, raises some fascinating legal points about the status of the native people of the island (as well as the island itself) and I'm eager to see how the court responds.

For more details on this case, follow these links:

http://www.civil-taiwan.org/usca.htm
http://www.taiwanadvice.com/prcutai3.htm
http://www.taiwankey.net/dc/milgovend6.htm

Marriage in Taipei

Sarj Bloom got married during his TDC tour and he recently sent me a photo of his marriage certificate, along with a few comments:

It wasn't easy getting married in Taiwan -- tons and tons of paperwork.

We got married in the chapel in the compound in the morning and then we went downtown to City Hall and got married at the Chinese court. You can see the signature of the American Consulate representative on the certificate.

There were about six couples getting married and I was the only American. There was no rehearsal and near the end of the ceremony we were told to bow to the judge, then turn around and bow to the people in the court, and then bow to our spouse.

Well, I got a big laugh because I got disoriented and I bowed to the back of the woman on the other side of me. I was embarrassed for a short time.

I know how you felt, Sarj. After I retired from the Air Force, my job required that I travel to many parts of the world and I was always very sensitive to local customs and tried hard not to be The Ugly American. I think I was successful most of the time, but probably made more mistakes than I was aware of at the time.

MARS and Explorers

A few days ago I posted some comments from Jim Petretta, who operated the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) in Taipei. He later mentioned to me that he started an Explorer post in Taipei with an emphasis on ham radio. Today this program for senior scouts is called Venturing, but the basic goal of providing a program of interest to young men in ages 14 through 20 remains.

Here are some of Jim's comments regarding those experiences:

I had some scouting experience of my own as a kid, so Sergeant Major Brickman of HHC asked me to start an Explorer Scout group that his son could join. Our focus was on Ham Radio. We did take a couple of camping trips with other Scouts somewhere, but I can't honestly remember where it was. We spent most of our time playing with radios and learning about different kinds of transmissions, frequencies and antennas.

I designed a cubical-quad antenna and the kids built it. I also designed the tower it went on, but Maj Barnum had the Corps of Engineers actually build that atop the MARS Station on Grass Mountain (after it relocated down slope from Gold Mountain).

The historic part of this was that during the Sino-American Scout Jamboree, our kids received a permit from the government to operate a ham radio from the Jamboree site. It was a first-ever, because of communication restrictions on their own people, and I even remember them posting a ROC military guard by our exhibit. That same cubical quad permitted emergency communication for our evacuation of Embassy personnel and their families out of Vietnam by being able to communicate directly with the embassy and boats in the harbor waiting for helicopter drops of evacuees. The drama of that entire two-day nonstop episode is indelibly printed in my mind. The roller-coaster emotional highs and lows of rescuing some, and losing some, and rescuing more was just mind-boggling. I handled much of the two-day communications and Major Barnum handled the rest. He kept saying, "Focus on the living."

MARS also served once as emergency communication for Vice President Rockefeller when he visited during Chiang Kai-shek's funeral. I did not get to handle that communication. Major Barnum took over my MARS station because of the classified nature of those communications. Remember, I had the only known direct High Frequency Radio Communication with a Ham Station in San Antonio. For me, it was big, even though I got left out, because it was made possible by my work with the Scouts.

By the way, we did not have normal scouting uniforms. The guys wore the greenish khaki scouting pants with bowling-type shirts one of the mothers designed for our Explorer Scouts. Even I had one, but I don't exactly remember what they looked like now. Hoping, some of it will come back with these memory tours.

Obama's Comments on Taiwan

A few weeks ago I contacted Illinois Senators Durbin and Obama regarding the delay by the U.S. government in the sale of defensive weapons to Taiwan. I stated my belief that the future of Taiwan should be determined by the people of Taiwan, not the government of the Peoples' Republic, and that replacing and updating Taiwan's self-defense capability helped ensure the safety of the people of Taiwan. The weapons delay has since been resolved, at least partially, which I'm sure was due solely to State Department timing, not my comments.

I don't generally receive replies from Senator Durbin, except for one time when he explained to me that I must be an idiot for not seeing things his way. Not hearing from him on this issue came as no surprise.

However, I did receive a reply from Senator Obama. Of course it's a carefully written and probably canned response from one of his staffers, but I thought you all might like to see what we might expect from a President Obama in regard to Taiwan:

Dear Don:

Thank you for contacting me to share your thoughts on U.S.-Taiwan relations. I appreciate having the benefit of your perspective on this issue.

Over the last few decades, Taiwan has made a transition to a full-fledged democracy with a vibrant economy. Today, Taiwan is a valued trading partner and has importance for U.S. political and security interests, and I agree that we must remain committed to the advancement of democracy and the preservation of human rights of the people of Taiwan. This means maintaining our military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthening our alliances, and making clear to both Beijing and Taipei that a unilateral change in the states quo [sic] in the Taiwan Strait is unacceptable.

In the 110th Congress, Senators Johnson (D-SD) and Lott (R-MS) have introduced a Senate resolution S. Con. Res. 48, which expresses the sense of Congress that restrictions on visits by high-level elected and appointed officials of Taiwan should be lifted in order to strengthen a policy dialogue with Taiwan. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, you may rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as I consider this and other pieces of legislation relevant to U.S.-Taiwan relations that come before the Senate.

Thank you again for writing. Please stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator

I think there are two key elements in this note. One is that any unilateral change in the status quo between China and Taiwan is unacceptable to him. The other is that he may support the Senate resolution that would allow visits by high-level elected and appointed officials from Taiwan to Washington. That is as it should be and the diplomatic tip-toeing that has been U.S. policy for many years is, in my opinion, ridiculous and should be ended as quickly as possible.

It appears pretty likely at this point that Senator Obama will be our next president. Though I personally might prefer otherwise, I feel at least a little less apprehensive about the future of U.S.-Taiwan relations over the next few years after receiving this note. Of course that's assuming that his comments evolve into actual policy.

For an in-depth discussion of our relations with China and Taiwan, I suggest you check out this excellent piece by Ambassador Harvey Feldman at the Heritage Foundation website.

Arms Sale Results In Snit

Back in July, I wrote about the U.S. delay in selling defensive arms to Taiwan.

There were some at the time who suggested the delay was to avoid embarrassing the folks in Beijing during the run-up to their Olympic games. That indeed seems (to me) to have been the case because the sale was announced a few days ago.

Now, as expected, the Peoples' Republic is in a snit over the whole thing. To retaliate, they have officially complained to our State Department and have canceled "senior level visits and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief exchanges" scheduled to occur by the end of November.

Wait a minute. They're backing out of disaster relief talks and our admirals can't talk to their admirals for a month? I don't know about Bush, but I'm sure quaking in my boots. This seems to be another case where they pretend to be upset and we pretend to care. Life goes on.

Anyway, I've always believed that the people of Taiwan should choose their own destiny. Whether they choose to remain independent or be absorbed by the PROC is a choice that only they should be allowed to make. But they'll have no choice at all if they can't continue to defend themselves against a neighbor who still considers them a "renegade province."

It took us a while, but we finally did the right thing.

In Defense of Taiwan

I don't normally discuss current issues in Taiwan, except when they're related to the "back in the day" issues covered here. If I want in-depth commentary on such things, I rely on those who are closer to the situation, like Michael Turton, an American educator who lives and works in Taichung. His blog "The View From Taiwan" is one of my daily reads and has always been one of the links displayed in the column to your right.

However, because of some relatively new events involving the governments of Taiwan, the United States and the People's Republic of China, I hope that you'll forgive me for breaking from the routine for a few moments.

Taiwan has relied on the United States for the bulk of its defense weapons for decades. The People's Republic of China (PROC) is opposed to that, obviously, because it would make it very costly for them to take over a nation that is able to defend itself. American troops were stationed there, as we well know, until 1979 when President James Earl Carter pulled them out. Even after that we continued to sell arms to the Taiwan government as they requested them. Please note that we have never given them anything in that regard.

In recent years the PROC has referred to Taiwan as a "renegade province," implying that they've always owned it and simply want it back. In truth, Taiwan was never "owned" by mainland China. It appears to me that the United States, Japan and even Holland could all come much closer to justifying such an outlandish claim. But of course they wouldn't do that because the future of Taiwan is best left to the good citizens of Taiwan. That's what democracy is all about.

Which brings me to the issue that prompted this piece: I read an excellent editorial today at the Cato Institute website, which was reprinted from the July 22nd edition of the Asia Times. It's fairly lengthy, but if you have any interest in the future of Taiwan, I encourage you to read it carefully.

The bottom line is this: The United States appears to have frozen the sale of military arms to Taiwan -- even those already contracted for. Admiral Keating, the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) said recently that there is such a freeze. The U.S. State Department, on the other hand, says there is no freeze. Someone is obviously...uh, mistaken. (How's that for diplomacy?)

All we know for certain is that weapons have not been shipped to Taiwan for quite a long while and no one wants to say why -- or even if -- that's the case. The Cato article offers several interesting possibilities.

If you feel that Taiwan has the right to defend itself against involuntary takeover by the People's Republic, and that we Americans have an obligation to do all that we can to assist them in that effort, then I encourage you to contact your elected representatives and politely ask them to support the free and independent government of The Republic of China (Taiwan). You can do this easily on-line: To contact your Senators, click here and enter your state. To contact your Representative, click here and enter your state and ZIP code.

I think that we who were fortunate enough to meet and help defend the people of Taiwan many years ago should do what we can to support them in their continuing struggle, especially in these present circumstances.

I'm hopeful that many others will feel the same.

Vice President Humphrey Visit to Taipei

Les Duffin sent in these photos and comments:

I thought you might like these photos I took of Vice President Humphrey departing from Sung Shan Airport after his three-day visit to Taipei in January 1966.

You may notice, in the second shot, the TDC command aircraft just underneath the wing of Air Force 2.

Eisenhower Visit Revisited

I posted some photos a few days ago of President Eisenhower's 1960 visit to Taiwan. Stev Pitchford just found this one that was also taken during that visit. Stev didn't take this photo, but he was part of the pool of photographers who were assembled for the event.

I'd just like to add that none of the Chinese military people I saw around USTDC looked anything like the two standing here. I guess maybe I just wasn't paying attention.