I would like to respond to an article in this paper on China's efforts to intimidate Taiwanese businesspeople ("PRC's pressure on Taiwanese businesses in vain: Chen," Dec. 14, page 3).
The world, especially Westerners, launched its fight against communism after the end of World War II. Since that time, we've seen the unification of Germany and the fall of the Soviet Union. The US sent troops to "liberate" Vietnam from communism, but failed.
The non-communist world failed to "conquer" the communist world. Today, much to the contrary, we are seeing trillions of dollars worth of investment from democratic countries -- and countries masquerading as democratic -- pouring into communist states in pursuit of economic growth, business opportunities and cheap labor.
But are these really good business investments or are they actually helping strengthen communist governments, with the result that communism will one day rule the world?
The US, UN and EU -- the so-called "free world" -- are good at imposing economic sanctions on countries that don't abide by their demands.
But when it comes to dealing with communist China, the same Western powers make compromises.
Even governments in East Asia compromise their anti-communist positions where economic opportunities are involved.
It is clear from reading the daily news from a variety of sources that communism is getting stronger each day -- and it is all thanks to the annual trillions of dollars in foreign investments funding communist governments!
Where is the fight against communism now? What of all the lives that were lost fighting communism? Has their sacrifice been compromised too?
Michael Teo
Singapore
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