Protests from Peking, Taipei and true-blue rightists
In handling foreign policy, the Reagan Administration sometimes seems to have a perverse gift for making a well-intended gesture in a way that pleases no one. A case in point is last week's decision on arms sales to Taiwan. The Administration's proposed compromise managed to offend, simultaneously, both China and Taiwan, and to alienate further a large constituency of American conservatives who fear that the President is abandoning their cause.
John Holdridge, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, was in Peking for talks...