OPINION:
The world has had been plenty of experience with “trust” during my lifetime. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain trusted Hitler not to proceed with World War II. The U.S. trusted Japan to discuss its problems on Dec. 7, 1941, via diplomats in Washington. The U.S. trusted the Soviets to maintain the post-World War II agreements that divided Korea before their June 1950 attack. The French trusted North Vietnam to recognize South Vietnam as a separate country when it ceded control in the 1950s.
I would not put much trust in the communist regimes in Asia, which prefer to take action whenever they think it’s to their advantage. Taiwan was taken over by Japan prior to World War II and only had independence for a short period until it was taken over by the retreating Chinese nationalists of Chiang Kai-sheck in the late 1940s. Communist China has made clear it will invade Taiwan and control the Far East if we put our trust in discussions and agreements with it.
The answer is peace through strength, including economic strength, which worked for President Ronald Reagan in his dealings with the Soviets.
DICK BAUERBACH
Patagonia, Arizona
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