Illustration:Chen Xia/GT

 All US governments since 1972 including the Biden administration continue to agree on certain points: One, there is only one China; Two, Taiwan is a part of China; Three, the only lawful government to this united China is the current one in Beijing.

Yet, for some reason, they continue to violate these ideas and other international agreements.

The US' hypocrisy reminds me of what happened before the American Civil War in the US. In March 1861, when Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as the 16th President of the US, seven states had already left the Union and four more would soon follow. The states that seceded were worried the new Republican Party with its first president would abolish slavery, the basis of their agrarian culture. They called themselves the Confederate States of America, or CSA for short. The CSA unanimously elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as provisional president in February 1861 in a constitutional convention.

Lincoln's speeches that year showed him trying to achieve reunification without bloodshed, finally turning to war in April 1861 to stop the rebellion. He is hailed as one of America's greatest presidents, a hero, and the savior of our nation.

President Lincoln rejected the status quo presented to him when he came to office. He never recognized the breakaway states. China rejects the island of Taiwan's "independence" as well.

News makers like to call Taiwan a "self-governing democracy," leaving out the fact that it was a dictatorial police state until the end of the Cold War. Need I remind them that the CSA was also a "self-governing democracy"? 

When certain European governments, especially Great Britain, looked at perhaps helping the Confederacy, the US threatened war against them. The British government did allow companies to supply the CSA with badly needed weapons, ammunition and even warships. It is estimated that these sales increased the length of the war by two years, and added almost 400,000 more deaths.

If the European powers could have seen the future, with American dominance of the world economy and events, they might have ganged up together to aid the Confederacy and keep the US permanently divided, perhaps even evacuating the defeated government of Jefferson Davis to Cuba, protecting him with their fleets, while arming the CSA with massive arms shipments. Today, that is certainly the situation in the Pacific.

As for Taiwan, arms sales and military aid continue to flow from Washington to the island. Meanwhile, the Taiwan Relations Act does not require their supporters to register as foreign agents, which allows them to take lots of money and then still hold government office. 

Why was this exception added to this law? The total hypocrisy of this situation is the worst part. How can anyone trust the US to uphold its agreements?

Lincoln said a house divided against itself, cannot stand. His determination to keep the US united led to a war. Yet it is agreed by most that this was a necessary and proper event. Don't other countries have the right to defend their own "union"?

The author is a freelance writer. He is a veteran of both the US Army and Navy. He is a veteran of the Gulf War (1990-1991), where he served as an acting WMD officer. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn