As a Foreign Service officer stationed in Hong Kong in the 1960s, I reported to Washington on the nationwide disaster Mao Zedong had brought about in China under his Great Leap Forward economic and agricultural program. Washington was woefully ignorant of what was taking place in China. The CIA directed the U.S. Information Agency to kill the report, "Famine: Grim Specter Over China," insisting there was no famine. Decades later, it was acknowledged that the famine had killed as many as 35 million Chinese. Today, China has another Great Leap Forward program underway. If China continues its present growth, it will force the United States into a secondary position among the commercial giants of the world. The United States must decide if it will support the defense of Taiwan, the island republic that has been a stalwart friend for decades.
WES PEDERSEN
U.S. Foreign Service (Retired)
Chevy Chase, Md.
In your otherwise excellent commentaries concerning the People's Republic of China, you didn't mention two important facts: the more than 800 missiles that China has aimed at Taiwan and the nuclear warhead missiles aimed at the United States.
ROBERT S. KENNEDY JR.
Camarillo, Calif.
"Is China Taking Over the World?" Yes, it is. One recall at a time.
RALPH M. GILBERT
Macon, Ga.
Correction: The first name of former Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus was misspelled in "Central High Still All About Politics" and "In Little Rock, a Matter of Justice" [August 13-20].
advertisement