Posted on: Sunday, January 5, 2003

EDITORIAL
Bush's terrible timing in Taiwan war games

We'd like to think that it's some kind of ingenious intrigue, a Tom Clancy-style plot to make the good guys win in the end. Because if it's not, it's a bone-headed mistake.

We're referring to the Bush administration's decision to send American troops to participate in military games in Taiwan — for the first time ever, according to the Los Angeles Times, or at least since U.S. forces were withdrawn from the island when the Carter administration established relations with Beijing in 1978.

The war games announcement is entirely consistent with Bush's China policy, which has amounted to a pro-Taiwan tilt. A few months into his term, Bush ended years of deliberate ambiguity about how the United States might react in a cross-strait conflict, declaring America would do "whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself."

China predictably was outraged, but that suited the Bush team, which came into office hoping to take China down a peg or two. Bush had criticized President Clinton's generally warm relations with the Chinese, and had determined to restore Japan to the role of our leading Asian partner.

U.S. participation in Taiwan war games has an entirely straightforward explanation, of course. It's to practice the evacuation of U.S. citizens in the event of a Chinese invasion, as Taiwanese forces practice repelling it. But it's symbolism that counts in Asia, and Bush's defense officials are sure to appreciate the "in your face" feelings this gesture will create in Beijing.

Consistency in policy is a virtue, except when it refuses to recognize starkly changed circumstances. As everyone by now is aware, the North Koreans are reactivating their nuclear-weapon facilities at Yongbyon. Bush has properly declared that behavior unacceptable.

Bush has said he intends to resolve this crisis through diplomacy. Further, since to talk with Pyongyang would be construed as rewarding misbehavior, Bush must rely on China — just about Pyongyang's last friend in the world — to lean on the North Koreans to end the crisis. So far Beijing has not shown any enthusiasm for providing this service.

So why is Bush needlessly provoking the Chinese on the Taiwan issue when he truly needs their help in North Korea?