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There had been strong speculation that communist China's current suppression of dissent in Tibet might have made voters in Taiwan leery of closer ties to Beijing, and that such fears might have helped Democratic Progressive candidate Frank Hsieh. Hsieh had warned that the Chinese crackdown in Tibet could also happen to Taiwan if it did not stand up to Beijing.

In the end, most analysts believe, any fear the Taiwanese may have of communist China was overridden by widespread concern over the island nation's economy. A majority of Taiwan's voters evidently believed Mr. Ma's position that closer relations with the mainland will restore rapid economic growth to the country's stagnant economy. Typical of such sentiment is Jason Lin, a former Democratic Progressive Party voter who voted for Mr. Ma. As the New York Times quoted Mr. Lin: "If we don't get into China's market, we are locked into our own country."

Since the Republic of China on Taiwan has long looked to the United States as a mentor/protector nation (which is ironic, considering that the reason Chiang Kai-shek was forced to move China's legitimate government from the mainland to Taiwan was because the United States had betrayed him), it is hardly surprising that the Taiwanese have succumbed to the same Chinese economic siren songs as have Americans.

When President Richard Nixon and his fellow internationalist successors in the White House first began calling for "normalizing of relations" and establishing trade with China, China had no money to spend on American goods, except what it could receive from the sale of illicit narcotics. This trend continued even under the so-called conservative administration of Ronald Reagan, which continued the policy begun by Nixon and Henry Kissinger. This so-called "trade," was financed by long-term, low-interest loans (gifts, actually) provided by the Export-Import Bank and made possible by funds extracted from the American taxpayers.

A few decades later, thanks to its economy being jump-started by the United States, the vast outsourcing of manufacturing to China by U.S. companies, and the flood of Chinese imports, the Chinese are so flush with cash that William Schneider, the Cable News Network's senior political analyst, wrote in an October 25, 2005 article entitled, “Re-evaluating U.S. Debt”: "China's investment in U.S. government debt has more than tripled in the past five years, from $71 billion in 2000 to $242 billion in 2005."

A factor often overlooked since the end of the Cold War and the supposed demise of international communism (even if "former" communists in positions of power in Russia could be discounted) is that mainland China is the world's largest communist power. It has a population of over 1.3 billion, and the world's fourth largest economy. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), with 2.3 million active troops, is the largest military force in the world. China possesses nuclear weapons and has both Russian- and Chinese-made fighter jets and Russian surface-to-air missile systems. It also has established as a precondition that any nation that wishes to establish diplomatic relations with it must acknowledge its claim to Taiwan and sever official ties with the Republic of China (ROC) government.

Furthermore, China's record on human rights is abysmal, with free expression of religion nonexistent. Like all communist nations, it is officially atheistic and an enemy, in principle, of Western Judeo-Christian civilization.

In short, China remains a formidable threat to all free nations, and is at the very least deserving of the same sort of economic isolation that is imposed on its little brother communist state, Cuba. But businessmen in the United States, like their counterparts in Taiwan and in most of the West, have been seduced by the prospects of fortunes to be made in trading with China.

Voters in Taiwan have been hoodwinked into thinking they must open up economic relations with China in order to improve their economy. It would make much more sense, however, for the remaining free economies in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, to support each other's economies, and not communist China's.

However, with U.S.-China trade going at full tilt, any incentive Taiwan might have to boycott communist China seems almost redundant.

As usual, U.S. foreign and trade policy serves to help maintain communism throughout the world, at the expense of freedom-loving nations.