December 9, 2003 - Do you remember Quemoy and Matsu ? Probably not, but in 1960 everybody knew those names, two insignificant islands in the Formosa straits just off the mainland coast. They were under Nationalist Chinese control and Red China was threatening war to reclaim them. The commitment to defend those two dots on the Asian map was a central topic in the Nixon-Kennedy debates. Nixon tried to paint Kennedy as soft on the defense of what we then called Formosa .

Since then Nixon went to Peiking - what we used to call Beijing - and adopted a "one China " policy America has tried to make it clear that "one China " did not mean that we had lessened our commitment to defend democracy in Taiwan - what we call Formosa now. Over the decades of American protection the authoritarian Nationalist regime matured into a genuine democracy. While neither officially recognizing Taiwan as an independent nation nor clearly acknowledging that it is a province of Mainland China - what we call Red China in the post-Nixon diplomatic language. As late as 1996, when Beijing was threatening Taiwan and firing missiles into the strait, President Clinton moved the fleet into position to react to any attack on Formosa - excuse me, Taiwan - and Red China - excuse me again, Mainland China - backed down. Are you with me so far?

Throughout the Cold War America maintained its principled commitment to democratic self-determination for all people. That, we said, was what set us apart from the Red Menace. The democratically elected President of Taiwan is running for re-election and has scheduled an advisory referendum on the question of Taiwanese Independence - an opportunity for the Taiwanese people to express their self-determination democratically.

Well, things have changed again. The Berlin wall came down; most of the consumer goods we buy are made in Mainland China ; and we are counting on Beijing to rein in Pyongyang while we are busy in Iraq and Afghanistan . Last week the Chinese Red Army warned that holding that democratic referendum would be a cause for war. Yesterday the Bush Administration warned Taiwan not engage in its exercise in democratic self-determination.

We are in Iraq to bring the blessings of democracy to the Iraqi people, at least that is the current version, but sometimes, it seems, the Bush Administration doesn't want too much democracy. Not in Iraq, where we don't want to hold elections in the process of restoring Iraq to the Iraqis, and certainly not in Taiwan where the people might democratically decide on independence. Too much democracy might upset our Chinese friends on the mainland.