Vote for Trump’s Policies, Not for His Personality
Joe Biden certainly seems a decent and compassionate human being and projects more empathy and personal caring than does Donald Trump. He might even be fun to have a beer with. But the history of his judgment on national security decisionmaking—as attested by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates who served in the Obama administration with him—is extremely worrisome at this time of global challenge.
—for the North Korean people imprisoned in similar gulags by a Pyongyang regime kept in power by its protector in Beijing
—for the Tibetan and southern Mongolian people subject to persecution and cultural genocide
—for the members of Falun Gong whose organs are removed and harvested as punishment for their spiritual beliefs
—for the Christians who are persecuted for practicing their religion
—for the untold numbers of Chinese in China and the Chinese students and scholars in the West who, along with their families, are being watched, harassed, and threatened for questioning Beijing’s policies or admiring those in the West
—for the people of Hong Kong whose limited freedoms are daily being extinguished
—for the people of Taiwan who live in constant fear of Chinese missiles and bombs descending on their cities
—for the countries of Southeast Asia whose maritime sovereignty and resources are being absorbed by Chinese expansionism
For those and other reasons, I will vote against Communist China and for the administration that is most likely to stand up to it. I hope my grandchildren will understand why in good conscience I will vote for Trump this time. If he wins, I hope he will keep the personnel and policies governing his administration’s approach to Asia, while striving over the next four years to live up to the personal and professional standards they and we expect in our president.
If Biden wins, I hope he will see the merit in Trump's Asia policy and retain many of the key personnel responsible for it. I will perform my civic duty as I did during both the Trump and Obama administrations, offering public praise or criticism where I believe warranted, and providing abundant gratuitous advice on how the new president should govern the country and run the world.
Joseph Bosco served as China Country Desk Officer in the office of the secretary of defense, a nonresident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States. He is presently a member of the advisory board of the Global Taiwan Institute and a fellow of the Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS).
Image: Reuters