Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng praises the success of democracy in Taiwan

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese human rights activist, right now on a visit to Taiwan, has a clear message that should not be forgotten: 

Chen, who has long been a critic of China's botched human rights record, sought to encourage China to follow the example of Taiwan's democracy at a press conference on Monday in Taipei.

"The democracy and rule of law in Taiwan show that democracy is not an institution that is unique to the West," Chen said at the press conference, as reported by The New York Times. "The success of democracy in Taiwan also exposed the Chinese government's lie that democracy does not work for the Chinese."

According to The Associated Press, Chen went on to assert that China's eventual democratization could "spell the end of dictatorship for the entire humankind."

Read the entire aticle here

Great news: Romney ready to sell F-16 jets to Taiwan if elected

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney´s stand on Taiwan is excellent news and should be welcomed by all people who believe in western democratic values:

In a recent exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), the Romney campaign’s foreign and national security policy director Alex Wong confirmed the presidential hopeful’s inclination to sell the jets.

He added that while US President Barack Obama’s administration has held back on selling the F-16s to Taiwan, “Governor Romney strongly believes that we should sell Taiwan those air fighters to ensure Taiwan’s ability to defend its democracy.”

Saying selling the fighters to Taiwan would increase jobs in the US while maintaining the US’ security benefits in the Asia-Pacific region, Wong also said this was the primary policy difference separating Romney from Obama.

Romney wishes to maintain the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and does not recognize the validity of recent calls to abandon Taiwan, Wong said, adding that the US would be standing side by side with its partners in the Asia-Pacific region and work with them to prevent China from engaging in military intimidation of its neighbors.

Romney’s strategy is to encourage China to integrate into the regional and global system led by the US and become a responsible partner, rather than a belligerent power, Wong said.

The development of Asia in the past three decades is incredible and the US wishes for the continuation of regional stability and prosperity, the continuation of free trade, and the development of democracy and human rights, he added.

This is why Romney feels that the US has to maintain a strong military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, so that a rising China would not seek to dominate the region, Wong said.

Read the entire article here

US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Democratic Taiwan sets an example for China

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, influential chairwoman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign  Affairs, has praised the role of Taiwan as a beacon of democracy: 

A senior U.S. congresswoman praised Taiwan's democracy in Taipei Monday as an example for China by showing that political power can come out of ballot boxes. 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Taiwan's democratic development, which has seen direct presidential elections and two transfers of power, is an achievement that must be preserved. 

Ros-Lehtinen, who is heading a 21-member congressional delegation that is in Taiwan to discuss bilateral ties and congratulate President Ma Ying-jeou on his inauguration for a second term, made the remarks at a dinner hosted by opposition Democratic Progressive Party. 

"When bloggers in China hear of Taiwan's democratic elections, they ask 'why can't we also elect our president if Taiwan citizens can cast their ballots freely in the ballot box all the time?'" Ros-Lehtinen said. 

She also cited the case of Chinese blind dissident Chen Guangcheng, a human rights lawyer who had been under house arrest before escaping to the U.S. embassy in Beijing. Chen and his family arrived in New York last weekend to begin a new life there. 

The light from Taiwan pointed the way for not only for Chen but also for millions in China, who thirst for liberty, Ros Lehtinen said. 

Read the entire article here

Ros-Lehtinen´s support for democratic Taiwan and democracy in Communist China does not always get big headlines in US and other western mainstream media, but it gets attention where it matters most - in Taiwan and mainland China. 

In praise of Taiwan

Taiwan, the country that western democracies do not dare to recognize for fear of the wrath of Communist China´s authoritarian rulers, again shines in the biannual Biannual Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index:

“Taiwan has remained a high performer in terms of democratic consolidation and market institutionalization,” the foundation said March 30.

Lauding Taiwan as one of Asia’s most vibrant civil societies, the report praised its free and fair elections, sound and reliable civic administration, and respectable human rights performance.

"Taiwan enjoys a very good human rights record according to all relevant international observer groups and there are no reports of unlawful or arbitrary use of state power against the population," the report noted.

Economically, Taiwan steered through the 2008 economic crisis remarkably well “because of resolute and efficient government crisis management and sound cross-strait economic interaction,” according to the report.

Read the entire article here

Taiwan also proves that the autocratic "Asian model", lauded by so many western "experts", is basically flawed: 

The BTI findings also refute the universality of the “Asian model”, according to which autocracies can have overall economic development that is more stable, reliable and robust than in many functioning democratic systems. The index shows this holds only in exceptional cases, such as in China, Singapore and Vietnam, although democracies perform, on average, better in all areas of economic development, social inclusion and political management. 

(Released biannually since 2008, the BTI index measures how developing countries and those in transition steer social change toward democracy and a market-based economy)

Taiwan´s gift to China: Democracy

Taiwan´s newly re-elected president Ma Ying-jeou chose his words well, when he presented a gift to the leaders of communist China:

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou said this month's presidential vote was the island's "best gift" to China, hailing the potential for the poll to show the path to democracy on the mainland.
Ma has said hundreds of millions of people in mainland China watched Taiwan's presidential candidates debate live on television last month for the first time through the Internet.

The poll, which saw Ma re-elected, could inspire Chinese democracy supporters, he said in a statement released by the Presidential Office.

"The peaceful election, a sign of democracy taking roots and bear fruits on the soil of a Chinese community, will make them feel that this will also happen on the mainland," the statement said.

"I believe this is the best gift from us to the mainland."

Read the entire article here

It may take some time before China understands the value of Taiwan´s gift, but good things are worth waiting for .....

Obama refuses to let Taiwan by new jets - "This deal has Beijing´s fingerprints all over it"

 U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has criticized the Obama goverment for not letting Taiwan buy the new F-16 jet fighters it wanted:

“The upgrade of older model F-16s is a modest step in the right direction but woefully insufficient to meet Taiwan’s increasingly urgent requirements for modern combat fighters and other defensive weapons systems. The Administration’s most recent China Military Power Report clearly shows the threats that Taiwan faces from an increasingly aggressive China. The decision by the Administration not to include the F-16 C/D fighter in this package calls into question the Administration’s commitment to longstanding policy to ensure that Taiwan is able to defend itself from mainland China, as legislatively mandated in the Taiwan Relations Act.

“This deal has Beijing’s fingerprints all over it.”

The Obama administration´s decision has received a cautious welcome by the Taiwanese government, while the opposition has been critical:

However, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ efforts to describe the US arms sale of F-16A/B upgrades as an “achievement” was regretful and contradictory.
“We don’t understand why the two ministries expressed gratitude when Taiwan came up short of its wish for F-16C/Ds procurement,” DPP spokesperson Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said, noting that Deputy Minister of National Defense Andrew Yang (楊念祖) in May explained to US officials why Taiwan desperately needs the F-16C/D and yet, on Wednesday night, he said the offered package was not a bad deal and he was not disappointed at all.

Read the entire article here

PS

The Obama administration´s refusal not to allow Taiwan to buy the jets it urgently needs is shameful and, as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen so rightly points out, "has Beijing’s fingerprints all over it". This is not the way to treat an old ally.

New major American study: The US should not appease China by sacrificing Taiwan

A new study sends a clear message to president Obama: The US should sell Taiwan the F-16 fighters it has requested:

“However frightening or seductive China is, appeasing it by sacrificing Taiwan would not be good policy,” said Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, a professor at Georgetown University, and Bonnie Glaser, a senior fellow and China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Their joint paper, titled Should the United States Abandon Taiwan?, has just been published by the CSIS journal, the Washington Quarterly.
It comes as the administration of US President Barack Obama is nearing a decision on the sale of the fighters.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that the decision will be announced by Oct. 1.
“The US should neither abandon nor reduce its commitments to Taiwan, but strengthen them,” the authors wrote.
“A decision to jettison Taiwan, or even cut back significantly on US support, would prove to an increasingly confident China that Washington has become weak, vacillating and unreliable,” they said.
At least in part, the study is in response to a growing chorus of critics in Washington who have called on the White House to stop supporting Taiwan to better promote relations with Beijing.
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Abandoning Taiwan could simplify and improve US-China relations temporarily, but in the longer run Beijing would conclude that a weaker US, lacking vision and ambition, could be pressured and manipulated, they said.
“Both friends and rivals regionally and globally would decide that the US was not to be trusted,” they said.
Tucker and Glaser urged Obama to “stop equivocating” and move forward with arms sales now because “there will never be a good time.”
“Upgrading existing aircraft would be welcome, but Taiwan’s aging and shrinking air force also needs new planes. Were the US to wait and the F-16C/D production line to close, Taiwan would have no other source,” they said.

Read the entire article here

The entire study can be downloaded here

The CSIS study comes almost simultaneously with a Pentagon report outlining the risks of China´s expanding military:

The reach and capability of China’s navy and air force are expanding, posing a growing risk to security in Asia, military officials say.
A new aircraft carrier that began sea trials this summer and the public test flight in January of an advanced fighter jet designed to rival U.S. technology are just two examples of China’s growing military might, U.S. officials say.
China’s new focus on air, naval and missile capabilities reflects its desire for greater mobility to conduct operations at a greater distance from its mainland.
That’s according to a new 84-page Pentagon report outlining some of the latest intelligence on the Chinese military.

Read the entire article here

PS

Economically the US is now weak, but that is not a good excuse for giving up its support for traditional allies like Taiwan in order to appease China´s authoritarian, communist leaders. Such an appeasement would perhaps appear to bring some short term benefits, but in the long term it would lead to a fatal loss of trust for US leadership all over the world.

Pentagon: China´s military build-up exceeds forecasts - Taiwan still the main focus

China´s military growth exceeds all forecasts and democratic Taiwan remains its principal focus, according to a fresh Pentagon report. Although the report does not explicitly state it, the study makes it clear that Taiwan is in desperate need on modern weaponry. However, there are clear signs that the Obama administration is not going to let Taiwan buy the F-16 fighters it would need. Obama is afraid of the reaction from communist China, and seems prepared to let down one of the oldest US allies and friends:

Its aircraft carrier program, cyber warfare capabilities and anti-satellite missiles have alarmed neighbors and Washington, the long-delayed comprehensive 84-page report says.
While the report contains nothing that is startlingly new, it is dominated by references to Taiwan. And it comes just weeks before the administration of US President Barack Obama has promised to provide an answer to Taipei’s request to buy 66 advanced F-16C/D aircraft.
This potential arms sale is not mentioned, but without actually spelling it out the study makes it abundantly clear that Taiwan is in desperate need of new weapons.
Titled Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2011, the annual report to Congress from the US Department of Defense makes chilling reading.
The Obama administration continues to deny that a decision has yet been made on whether or not to sell the F-16s, but unofficial sources in both Taipei and Washington are signaling that Obama will bow to Chinese pressure and not allow the sale. Instead, he seems likely to offer to modernize Taiwan’s dated F-16A/B aircraft — a move that is less objectionable to Beijing.
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In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense again urged the US government to speed up the sale of defensive weapons to Taiwan.
Ministry spokesman David Lo (羅紹和) said the report again highlighted the cross-strait military imbalance.
Based on this reasoning, Ma has repeatedly called on the US to supply defensive arms to Taiwan in accordance with the TRA, Lo said.
He said the ministry has continued in its efforts to persuade Washington to provide F-16C/D aircraft, F-16A/B upgrades and diesel-electric submarines.

Read the entire Taipei Times article here

Obama continues his kowtowing to communist China: Taiwan not allowed to buy F-16 fighters

China´s communist leaders must be celebrating. It now appears clear that president Obama has decided that the US will not sell F-16 fighters to its old ally, democratic Taiwan:

Taiwan will not be getting the 66 F-16C/D aircraft it has been requesting since 2007, a Ministry of National Defense official has confirmed, and fewer of its older F-16s will be retrofitted, news that could strike a blow to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration as it heads into elections next January.
“We are so disappointed in the United States,” the official told Defense News on the sidelines of the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE), which ended on Saturday, blaming the decision on pressure from Beijing.
The article, released last night and written by the magazine’s Asia Bureau chief, Wendell Minnick, said a US Department of Defense delegation had arrived in Taiwan last week to deliver the news to Taipei and that as an alternative it had offered to secure the upgrade package for Taiwan’s ageing fleet of F-16A/B aircraft.
“The US Pentagon is here explaining what is in the upgrade package,” a US defense industry source told the magazine. “They are going to split the baby: no C/Ds, but the A/B upgrade is going forward.”
“The switch is meant to soften the blow of denying new planes to Taipei,” a source at Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-16, told Defense News.
Part of the deal, which sources said would be made toward the end of this month, would include an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, Defense News said.
The AESA radar will likely be Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) or the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR), although a source told the Taipei Times last week that some components of the SABR may yet to have cleared export licensing from the US government.
According to the magazine, the upgrade would make Taiwan’s F-16s among the most capable variants of the aircraft, “perhaps second only to the APG-80 AESA-equipped F-16E/Fs flown by the United Arab Emirates.”
However, in a follow-up conversation with the Taipei Times, Minnick said it now appeared that, contrary to initial plans to have the entire 146 F-16A/Bs upgraded, fewer aircraft would be retrofitted.
“My sources now indicate the A/B upgrade could be limited to only one of the two F-16 wings” that comprise the Taiwanese air force, he said.

Read the entire article here

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairperson of the US House of  Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs is deeply worried about the Obama administration´s policy towards Taiwan:

US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairperson of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, has issued a stern warning to US Vice President Joe Biden not to discuss arms sales to Taiwan while he is in China this week.
The warning came in a letter that was hand-delivered to Biden just before he boarded a plane to Beijing from Washington on Tuesday.
It followed a firm promise issued earlier in the week by the White House that arms sales would not be discussed and reflected suspicion in Congress that the administration of US President Barack Obama is being unduly influenced by Chinese sentiment on the arms sale question.
Ros-Lehtinen also used her letter to express support for Taiwan in its request to buy 66 F-16C/D aircraft from the US.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has already promised that a decision on the sale will be announced before Oct. 1.
Despite recent reports from Taipei to the contrary, US officials continue to insist that as of this week no decision has yet been made.
“I wish to address an issue of utmost concern to the Congress as you prepare to depart on your Asian trip, with a first stop in Beijing,” Ros-Lehtinen wrote to Biden.
“It involves the pending question of arms sales to Taiwan, as congressionally-mandated in the Taiwan Relations Act. The immediate issue involves the provision of the next generation of F-16 fighters and diesel [-electric] submarines to Taipei,” she wrote.
She said there had been considerable press speculation that Biden would discuss the arms issue in Beijing and that some in Taipei could perceive such talks as “undermining an old friend and ally.”

Read the entire article here

PS

The apparent decision not to sell F-16 fighters to Taiwan is another sign of a weak president´s kowtowing to China´s authoritarian communist leaders. Shame on Obama, if the report about the refusal to support a long time ally is true!

US Congress to focus on EU´s plans to lift China arms embargo

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman of US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee is taking steps in order to prevent the European Union from lifting its ban on arms sales to communist China. The EU´s "foreign minister", baroness Ashton, supported by France and Spain, has recently been busy promoting the lifting of the ban:

A new bill urging the EU and its member states to keep an arms embargo against China has been introduced to the US Congress.
Sponsored by US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the bill is in response to moves by some prominent European nations to lift the embargo.
“Lifting this embargo would pose a grave threat to Taiwan,” said Coen Blaauw, an official with the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA).
“The prospect of EU-made submarines and missiles being sold to China is very disturbing. Additionally, some of the European weapons are based on US technology and could be used against US forces if Washington defends Taiwan should China stage an invasion,” Blaauw said.
“The Taiwan Strait continues to be one of the major flashpoints in the world and a conflict in the region will ultimately involve US forces. Lifting the ban will be bad for Taiwan and bad for the US,” Blaauw said.
The bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where Ros-Lehtinen is expected to ensure that it is given a hearing soon.
A European arms embargo was introduced against China following the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.
However, Spain recently said it wants to “eliminate any inconvenience in relationships between the EU and China” and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton has recommended lifting the embargo to develop stronger foreign policy and security ties with Beijing.
According to the bill, China’s military buildup remains “shrouded in secrecy” and challenges the US and its allies, “particularly Taiwan.”
“The People’s Republic of China has been engaged in an extensive military buildup in its air, naval, land and outer space systems, including the deployment of approximately 1,600 short and medium-range ballistic missiles near the Taiwan Strait,” it says.
Weapons sales from Europe, the bill says, would encourage China to settle longstanding territorial disputes in the region “by the threat or use of military force.”

Read the entire article here

The Heritage Foundation´s Sally McNamara and Walter Lohman warned about Cathrine Ashton´s activities already in January:

It has been revealed that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton is pushing for the lifting of the EU’s 1989-imposed arms embargo on China. EU leaders failed to reach agreement on the issue at their summit in Brussels in December, but Lady Ashton is reported to be working closely with France and Spain to take the issue forward this year, describing the embargo as “a major impediment” to intensifying relations between Brussels and Beijing.[1]

British Prime Minister David Cameron rightly opposes lifting the ban on both security and human rights grounds. It is vital that Cameron work closely with his European allies—including Poland and the Czech Republic—to block Lady Ashton’s initiative and make clear that he will use Britain’s veto power if necessary. The new chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R–FL), should also make clear that a lifting of the embargo would fundamentally weaken the transatlantic alliance.
A Violation of Human Rights and Breaking Faith with an Ally

The EU’s ban on arms sales to China was imposed on human rights grounds in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square massacre. Not much has changed since in the area of human rights. In 2010, The Heritage Foundation conducted an extensive examination of every annual State Department human rights report since the massacre and found the situation over that time “not improving and occasionally worsening.”[2]

China wants the embargo lifted for two reasons. First, the Chinese do not believe that as a major world power they should be held accountable for their internal policies. Second, by accessing European defense technologies and reverse engineering those products, Beijing can improve its technological expertise, expand its military capacity, and increase defense sales. China is developing its armed forces rapidly, and Beijing has little intention of leaving itself dependent on foreign sources for key weapons in the long term.

And at whom is China’s weapons buildup directed? Last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen said out loud what many analysts have long observed: “Many of these capabilities seem to be focused very specifically on the United States.”[3] It is inconceivable that the EU would directly assist in the development of forces in the Pacific intended to undermine America’s historical mission to safeguard peace, prosperity, and security in East Asia, an area of the world where it has tens of thousands of troops and its Pacific Fleet in harms way.

Lifting the embargo would also represent a contravention of several elements of the EU’s Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. The voluntary agreement—already blatantly disregarded by France, which announced that it will sell its Mistral assault ships to Russia—includes a commitment to “prevent the export of equipment which might be used for internal repression or international aggression or contribute to regional instability” and to take into account the risks posed to friends, allies, or other member states from arms sales.

Read the entire article here

An important American speech on Taiwan

Ros-Lehtinen: “Taiwan remains a great beacon of democracy in East Asia"

It is reassuring to note that the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee again has a chairman, who understands the importance of  democratic Taiwan. Republican chairman/chairperson Ileana Ros-Lehtinen last Saturday gave a wide ranging speech on Taiwan in Los Angeles. The US based Formosa Foundation executive director Terri Giles said Ros-Lehtinen´s speech was "the most pro-Taiwan speech of any major Washington politician in a decade".

The Taipei Times reports:

US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, has warned China not to interfere in Taiwan’s presidential election and promised to support Taiwan’s democracy in every way she can.
In a wide ranging speech -delivered in Los Angeles on Saturday, Ros-Lehtinen called on US President Barack Obama to sell F-16C/D aircraft to Taipei and to work to improve relations with Taiwan.
“Taiwan remains a great beacon of democracy in East Asia and an important strategic ally in a key region of the world,” she said.
Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, was addressing a crowd of mostly Taiwanese-Americans at an event organized by the Los Angeles based Formosa Foundation.
She has organized a hearing before the full Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday to investigate the state of US-Taiwan relations and the future of Taiwan’s democracy.
“This is the first such hearing on Taiwan in seven years, but under my chairmanship, it won’t be the last,” she said.
“One of the reasons we will be holding this hearing is that I am deeply concerned for Taiwan’s future, as it tries to cope with a rising China,” she said.
“I am also increasingly troubled about recent trends in US-Taiwan relations, trends which suggest, as one academic writes; ‘a marked decline in US support for the island’s freedom of action.’ Let me make one thing clear: I support the Taiwanese people and their democracy,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

“Early next year, Taiwan goes to the polls to vote for both a president and a legislature. It’s an important election and should be free from outside interference or coercion,” she said. “Beijing needs to stay out of this election. China must not repeat the bullying of the 1996 election, when it sought to intimidate by launching missiles on Taiwan’s election eve.”
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“Tragically, Taiwan appears to have become an afterthought in the Obama administration’s larger aims of engagement with Asia and the Pacific,” Ros-Lehtinen said.

Obama administration shows lack of support for Taiwan

Gate to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei 

The US-Taiwan Business Council is rightly worried about the Obama administration´s lack of support for the only truly democratic Chinese state:

US policy on Taiwan under US President Barack Obama has taken a “hazardous” turn that appears to be moving toward support for Beijing’s interpretation of its core interests, the US-Taiwan Business Council said in a special commentary released on Monday.
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Although the Obama administration has been right to encourage cross-strait economic liberalization and support President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), China’s military posture has failed to dovetail with those developments, the report said.
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“China is playing relentless offense on Taiwan, and at some point the US has to step up and make it pay for its actions,” the commentary said, adding that Washington “must be as outspoken in [its] opposition to China’s strategy of military coercion as [it is] in [its] support of the ECFA and other positive trends.”
However, such a response has yet to materialize, it said.
“Two years into Mr Obama’s term in office, we have yet to see a single material action that suggests US willingness to make China pay a real cost for its aggressive cross-strait posture,” the chamber report said.
In addition to giving Taiwan and China the impression that it doesn’t care enough to act, US inaction will likely have an impact on the calculations of South Koreans and Japanese, who risk seeing this as “a drawn-out withdrawal of US interests in North Asia.”

Read the entire Taipei Times article here.

A reminder from democratic Taiwan to president Obama

The Taipei Times urges in its editorial president Obama to act like a democratic leader when he meets with Chinese president Hu Jintao later this week:

Furthermore, just as Beijing has red lines it will not cross, the US should have its own, and based on its historical foundations, the US ought to make freedom and human rights, and by extension Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang and human rights in China, its own lines of intransigence. Wishy-washy half truths and obfuscation on what we are told remain core principles of the US just won’t work and in fact will make it easier for unyielding forces to open wedges in the US system.
There is little time left. Before Hu sets foot on US soil, the latter should unreservedly state its goals and expectations. Take it or leave it, Mr Hu.