Dear Editor,
Former President Donald Ramotar’s wrote 2 letters that were
published in Stabroek News: 7 August 2022 and 1 March 2022. When read
together, these letters are disturbing for the following reasons:
First, on 7 August 2022, Mr. Ramotar condemned Nancy Peolsi’s trip
to Taiwan as “provocative action.” It behooves Mr. Ramotar to explain why
Speaker Pelosi’s trip was provocative. This was not the first time that a
Speaker of the House visited Taiwan: Newt Gingrich visited Taiwan in
1997. Ms. Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan did not result in any realignment of US
foreign policy-one China, or any escalation of military aid to Taiwan’s
military.
The Chinese government is peeved because Ms. Pelosi has been
a perpetual thorn in its side: In 1991, she visited Tiananmen Square where
she unfurled a banner honoring the pro-democracy protesters whom the
Chinese government massacred there. In 1995, she was instrumental in
the release of Chinese dissident Harry Wu from detention. In 2015, she has
visited with the Dalai Lama. In 2019, she helped to impose sanctions on
China for its genocide of the Uyghur Muslims. Nancy Pelosi is a voice for
democracy and human right. That is the reason China is upset.
David Sacks of the Council on Foreign Relations summed up the
Chinese action: “More important, Beijing’s reaction reveals its growing
comfort with the prospect of a crisis over Taiwan. As Xi faces economic
headwinds at home and growing resentment over his strict zero-
COVID policy, he may have concluded that a Taiwan crisis could rally the
public and shore up his popularity. Xi may also have decided that
international support for Taiwan is growing too strong, especially in the
wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Both Taiwan and Ukraine are relatively young democracies that exist next to much larger authoritarian neighbors with long-standing designs on their territory; leaders around the
world have taken note of the parallels. Xi may feel he needs to deter
countries from working with Taipei to increase its defenses and resilience.
He could also find Pelosi’s visit to be an advantageous pretext for large-
scale military exercises, which could test the People’s Liberation Army’s
preparedness for complex operations. That could provide him clues as to
whether China’s military would fare better than Russia’s did in Ukraine and
gauge how the United States and Taiwan would react.
Second, Mr. Ramotar is an old-school Communist steeped in class
analysis, dialectics, dictatorship of the proletariat, etc. His paradigm is
grounded in criticisms of the “corporate media”, “military industrial complex”
etc. According to Mr. Ramotar, the US is a society that is run by the military
industrial complex which generates wealth for a few by engaging in
perpetual war. However, in his 7 August 2022 letter, he noted the military
and the Executive cautioned Nancy Pelosi against making her trip to
Taiwan.
Clearly, the military industrial complex was not seeking a conflict
with China. Ramotar vacuously concluded, “a section of the United States
ruling class saw this development in China as a threat to the US
domination of the world. Nancy Pelosi is part of that group.” Mr. Ramotar
tell us more of this so-called “section of the United States ruling class”:
Who are they? Whom do they represent? What segment/industries do they
control? What percent of the US GDP are they responsible for?
Third, Mr. Ramotar concludes his letter with a clarion call for “respect
for all countries sovereignty, security.”
On 1 March 2022, Mr. Ramotar where was your call for Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty? You did not respect their rights to self-determination, to seek better relations with
the EU and the West. You sided with the autocrats. Similarly, in condemning Nancy Pelosi you have reiterated your position.
Sincerely,
Roger Ally
Fort Lauderdale
