Friday 31 October 2008

Taiwan

After the US announced sales of over US$6 billion worth of advanced weapons to Taiwan, China lodged a protest and accused the US of violating "the principles set in the three joint communiques between China and the United States, especially the communique on the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan signed on Aug. 17, 1982". A Foreign Ministry spokesman declared that "nobody could stop the efforts to promote cross Strait exchanges and opening a new chapter of peace in cross Strait relations". If that is indeed the case, what's the big deal?

Terrorism
Extradition

A US District Court judge ordered the Bush administration to release 17 detainees at Guantánamo Bay who are Uighur Muslims from China. According to the US Government, the 17 men received weapons training in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan “for armed insurrection against their home country", but they apparently posed no security threat to the US. The judge declared it was time to "shine the light of constitutionality on the reasons for detention". The light, as it turned out, shone for just about a day as the US DC Circuit Court promptly issued a stay of the judge's order. Indeed, if terrorism is a matter of universal concern, why should it matter whether it threatened the security of a particular country?