推 longing:rubber-stamp (苦笑)218.165.122.107 03/15
剛剛回家看新聞小標看到的，是華盛頓郵報的社論，就找了來給大家做
參考。
brazen 的意義還蠻符合現在這種局勢的...
1 behaving in a way that is not moral or socially acceptable, and
not caring if other people are shocked or offended
1a. used about someone's behavior that is not moral or socially
acceptable: a brazen lie
2 LITERARY made of BRASS
brass 是黃銅，是銅加鋅的合金，但另一義是厚臉皮的意思。
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Brazen China
Saturday, March 12, 2005; Page A18
PERHAPS CHINA'S Communist leadership was worried that the world would get the
wrong idea from the recent flurry of conciliatory gestures and concessions it
has exchanged with the government of Taiwan -- steps that have suggested the
possibility of a civilized and peaceful rapprochement between the neighbors.
In any case, President Hu Jintao has now made clear that Beijing's policy of
openly threatening Taiwan with a war of aggression remains intact. The
centerpiece of this month's meeting of the rubber-stamp National People's
Congress is "anti-secession" legislation that legally binds China to attack
the island -- a move that likely would mean a military conflict with the
United States -- if it fails to meet China's political demands. Chief among
these is that Taiwan's democratically elected president, Chen Shui-bian, drop
one of the central planks of his platform, which is reform of Taiwan's
constitution.
Mr. Chen hasn't taken any steps toward the constitutional reform, which in
any case would be largely cosmetic. Since suffering defeat in a legislative
election in December, he has been reaching out to China; he even struck a
deal with a pro-Beijing opposition leader in which he pledged to work to
relax investment and transport restrictions and reiterated promises not to
seek independence for Taiwan. Mr. Hu's answer is to mandate, by law, that
peaceful democratic political activity on Taiwan trigger invasion by China.
This extraordinary bellicosity is backed up by deeds: Last week Beijing
announced a 12 percent increase in its defense budget, continuing years of
double-digit growth that have made it the largest military spender in the
world after the United States. In recent years the buildup has been designed
to prepare for an invasion and to repel U.S. forces that might seek to
intervene. Hundreds of missiles have been deployed within range of Taiwan,
and new surface ships and submarines have been purchased from Russia.
In sum, a totalitarian Chinese government has openly renewed its resolve to
wage war and is working hard to acquire the means to do so. Which brings us
to the European Union, which is preparing to lift its embargo on arms sales
to China despite appeals and warnings of the Bush administration and
Congress. France and Germany -- fierce opponents of military force when used
by the United States against a vicious dictator -- remain eager to sell
weapons systems to a regime that has formally committed itself to aggression
against a democracy. Rather than joining with the United States to help keep
the peace in Asia, they would cater to the country that promises to break it.
In effect, the Europeans place their own narrow commercial interests -- which
they pursue in competition with U.S. companies -- above security cooperation
with their NATO ally. It is a grossly irresponsible policy.
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