Ted Cruz Escalates His War Provocations against China

Nov. 27, 2019 (EIRNS)—Already knee deep in the color revolution in Hong Kong, where he dressed in black to show solidarity with the violent gangs, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has now directly provoked China to war by issuing a bill to declare Taiwan a sovereign state. Called the “Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty Act,” Cruz’s bill aims to “peel back some of the extreme insults of Taiwanese that are inflicted by the one-China policy protocol,” such as the ban of Taiwan’s officials from visiting U.S. government agencies, and prohibiting the island’s exchange students at West Point from wearing the uniform of their own “military,” as reported in South China Morning Post.

This idiocy would break the foundation of the One China policy adopted by both the U.S. and China in 1972. A former advisor to Bush and briefly of Trump, Christian Whiton, described the Cruz bill at a Hudson Institute event, stating, “I hope this will be a good start.”

The Global Times yesterday responded in an op-ed that the scheme is a provocation which could lead directly to war:

“China must be and will be reunified—this is Beijing’s persistent position. China has already made it clear that ‘if anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military has no choice but to fight at all cost for national unity.’

“The bill is a bare provocation. Anyone who challenges China’s core interests must pay a heavy price. Once Cruz’s proposal becomes a concrete policy, the U.S. will certainly be placed in a dangerous situation. If U.S. politicians continue to interfere in the Taiwan question, they will eventually draw fire against themselves. The worst-case scenario could even be a termination of the U.S.-led order in Asia.

“Politicians like Cruz reflect the decline and inefficiency of U.S. politics. They are like clowns performing burlesques on the world power’s political stage. The worst is that Cruz and his likes are good at mobilizing public opinion, but lack basic history knowledge. If Cruz understands a little about the Korean War in the 1950s, he will figure out how much the powerful U.S. paid for underestimating China’s determination.

“The proposal might indeed be a ‘start,’ as Whiton hopes, but one of disasters. Cruz and his colleagues had better ask if the Pentagon is well prepared.”