Liberal Japan

I think if Ron Paul is elected president, or even begins to pull some weight in the Republican primary, it will affect the Japanese-American relationship. Ron Paul would be expected to bring troops home from Japan and Korea as soon as it were possible.

Ron Paul has specifically stated he has no interest in protecting South Korea or Taiwan if they were attacked.

Specifically in regards to the Taiwanese issue Ron Paul has said:

The Taiwan Relations Act essentially promises that we will defend Taiwan at all costs and should be reevaluated. Morally and constitutionally a treaty cannot be used to commit us to war at some future date. One generation cannot declare war for another. Making an open-ended commitment to go to war, promising troops, money and weapons, is not permitted by the Constitution.

-and-

Throughout all of China’s history she has never pursued military adventurism far from her own borders. That is something that we cannot say about our own policy. China traditionally has only fought for secure borders predominantly with India, Russia, Japan, and in Korea against the United States, and that was only when our troops approached the Yaloo River.

This was an address to congress in 2001, but his position has not changed since then.

In a 2006 speech Ron Paul did state he would like to end subsidies to China:

Each year the people of the United States write a check to subsidize China, one of the most brutal, anti-American regimes in the world. Lately it has been in vogue for everyone in Washington to eagerly denounce the egregious abuses of the Chinese people at the hands of their communist dictators. Yet no one in our federal government has been willing to take China on in any meaningful way.

Very few people realize that China is one of the biggest beneficiaries of American taxpayer subsidies.  Thanks to the largesse of Congress and the President, China enjoys subsidized trade and the flow of US tax dollars into Beijing’s coffers.

I offered an amendment before the House of Representatives last month that would have ended the $4 billion subsidy our nation quietly gives China through the US government’s Export-Import Bank. The bank underwrites the purchases of goods and services by the Chinese government and others around the world. Unfortunately, only a minority of Democrats or Republicans supported my measure. Apparently, many members of Congress are happy to bash China, but don’t mind lending her U.S. taxpayer money at sweetheart interest rates.

For more of Ron Paul’s views on China visit this page.

Here is Ron Paul’s voting record as far as China:

Ron Paul
Rep. Paul (R-TX) has called China “one of the most brutal, anti-American regimes in the world.” Still, Paul was one of only five representatives to vote against the Political Freedom in China Act of 1997.

Paul was also the only member of the House to vote against a 2006 resolution condemning religious persecution in China.

Paul voted against the U.S.-China Trade Relations Act of 2000, as well as the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act in 2001.

Here is Ron Paul speaking briefly about Korea:

We went into Korea by direction of the United Nations, not a congressional declaration of war, to unify Korea. And yet that war ensured that Korea remains divided to this day; our troops are still there. South Korea today is much more willing to reconcile differences with North Korea, and yet we obstruct such efforts. It doesn’t make much sense.

Here is a passage from an interview with Ron Paul By CNN’s John King:

KING: Let me ask you more broadly about your views on foreign policy. Obviously, you believe the United States should have a limited role in the world, especially in terms of projecting military force. So, if Kim Jong Il rolled south into South Korea today, should the United States intervene?

PAUL: Well, it depends on what the Congress says. We certainly shouldn’t do what we did in — under the Truman administration, go in under our U.N. resolution. You go to the Congress and find out if it’s a threat to our national security. I personally would think right now that it isn’t a threat to our national security.

I want to make a point, though, that if we weren’t over there, I think Korea would be unified like South Vietnam or Vietnam is unified. They have railroads now opened up between the two. They want to share information.

KING: Let me jump in. I don’t want to solve the problems of the Korean peninsula today. I do want to get your views on foreign policy. Let me give you another example. If China took back Taiwan today, you say go to the Congress, or does the president not have the authority as commander in chief?

PAUL: Absolutely he does not have the authority. Where does he get it? You can’t go to war without Congressional approval. And that’s not a threat to our national security. That’s something internal affairs. Why should we send hundreds of thousands of Americans to die in a civil war?

I mean, are we over in Russia right now over Chechnya? I mean, it wouldn’t make any sense. Did we go to war over Hong Kong?

We should follow the Constitution and the advice of the founders. Don’t go looking for dragons to slay. I mean, why should we go and provoke and look for trouble? We should talk to people, negotiate, be diplomatic and trade with people.

We do much better trading with Vietnam than we did with fighting with them, and we lost 60,000 men there. It makes so much common sense and is so appealing to the majority of Americans. Let me tell you, I really believe that.

I wonder what the repercussions would be if Ron Paul could even start scoring in at 10% or so in the “official” media polls? I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, but I’m so tired of the implicit assumption that America has to solve every problem in the world (especially when it’s in the interest of some well-financed interest group), that I think Ron Paul introduces a new level of humbleness that’s needed.

Will Ron Paul be able to get his message out? He has been excluded from the next Republican debate sponsored by Iowans for Tax relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance. Ron Paul is a devout Christian and wants to repeal the 16th Amendment to the US constitution! What the deal?

According to the Ron Paul 2008, daily update:

Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance will host a presidential candidates forum on Saturday, June 30th in Des Moines.  Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, and Tom Tancredo will participate.

Ron Paul, however, will not participate.  Why?  Because he wasn’t invited.
We heard about this forum from numerous supporters in Iowa who asked why Dr. Paul was not going to participate.  Those supporters assumed that Dr. Paul was invited. 
The campaign office had not received an invitation so we called this morning; thinking we might have misplaced the invitation or simply overlooked it.  Lew Moore, our campaign manager, called Mr. Edward Failor, an officer of Iowans for Tax Relief, to ask about it.  To our shock, Mr. Failor told us Dr. Paul was not invited; he was not going to be invited; and he would not be allowed to participate.  And when asked why, Mr. Failor refused to explain.  The call ended.

Lew then called Mr. Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, to talk with him.  Mr. Scheffler did not answer so Lew left a message.  He has yet to respond.

If you are an American, you clearly have a vested interest in this. However, you also have a vested interest in this if you are one of the following:

1. American soldiers are stationed in your country.
2. Your country has a collective self-defense treaty with America.
3. Your country’s foreign policy is heavily influenced by American interference.

Let those who have excluded Ron Paul from the debate know what you think. Here is their contact information:

Edward Failor
Iowans for Tax Relief
2610 Park Avenue
Muscatine, Iowa 52761
Phone: 563-288-3600 or 877-913-3600
Fax: 563-264-2413
E-mail: itr@taxrelief.org
Web Site

Steve Scheffler, President
Iowa Christian Alliance
939 Office Park Road, Suite 115
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
Phone: 515-225-1515
Fax: 515-225-1826
E-mail: slscheffler@iowachristian.com
Web Site

In other news as Ron Paul can’t get much attention in the mainstream media, so he has taken to doing interviews in … uh … dorm rooms with those little camera things they put up on the monitors …

Despite the setting it’s actually a really good interview:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Ron Paul 2008.