Retired Democratic senator Paul Simon writes in Pete du Pont’s webzine Intellectual Capital that Lien Chan, the vice president of Taiwan, “is being denied the right to enter the United States to attend meetings of the governing board of the University of Chicago,” from which the vice president graduated some years back. “Has he committed some criminal act to prevent him from visiting the United States?” Simon asks. No, Lien Chan just hails from the wrong China, the one that has democratic elections. A Taiwanese official told Simon that there is “a quiet understanding” with the State Department that Taiwan will not insist on a visa “to save the United States the embarrassment of turning him down.” Proving once again that there’s no liberal Democrat like a retired one, Simon memorably takes aim at Clinton administration policy: “To announce that we will welcome China’s president and dictator when he comes (and I do not oppose that) but treat Taiwanese officials who are freely elected in a less generous way sends a message to the world that the United States stands for freedom and democracy — unless it offends a neighborhood bully.”
