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Old 12-10-2003, 05:40 AM   #11 (permalink)
Macheath
Junkie
 
Location: Sydney, Australia
I remember that back in April 2001, Bush was seemingly much more pro-Taiwan when he publicly stated that he would send US troops to Taiwan if China attacked. China responded to these comments by stating that the US was heading "further down a dangerous road" with these comments. US allies urged restraint. It was seen as being pretty big at the time.

It really seems a lot like the Bush we're used to; quite punchy, quite aggressive. I do wonder if this manner of his actually consistently harms his ability to engage in effective diplomacy.

He always goes in guns blazing and then (because we're talking about diplomacy here, not war) he has to spend far too long quietly smoothing things over; like this meeting with Wen. His initial responses always shake everyone up and subsequently hamper a possible thawing of relations between the parties.
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