Transcript
Fred Barbash-Moderator: Richard Bush’s two-decade public service career spans Congress, the intelligence community and the U.S. State Department. He currently focuses on China-Taiwan relations, U.S.-China relations, the Korean peninsula and Japan’s security. He is the author of, among other works, A War Like No Other: The Truth About China's Challenge to America, Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait , and At Cross Purposes: U.S.-Taiwan Relations Since 1942. Welcome readers and welcome Richard. This couldn't come at a more opportune moment. So let's get started.
12:30 [Comment From Ramon (Detroit)] Don’t get me wrong, this is a wonderful moment and I applaud President Clinton’s efforts. However, to play Devil’s Advocate, didn’t Kim Jong Il get exactly what he wanted? He didn’t get some second tier diplomat; he got President Clinton, a world stage and another propaganda victory. By sending President Clinton to negotiate the release of the two journalists, doesn’t this once again legitimize a dishonest regime and give Pyongyang the ability to act like the good guy in world public opinion by releasing people they shouldn’t have seized in the first place? Also, what message does this send to other rogue nations such as Iran?
12:31 Richard Bush: Thanks, Fred. It's good to be with you. On Ramon's question, it's true that the fact it was Clinton was a symbolic gain for Kim. It may help him domestically, in imposing his preferred succession arrangement. The important thing, however, was that Clinton, as far as we know, kept the release of the journalists separate from the “big issues,” like the nuclear issue. Kim wasn’t able to use the women as leverage.
View Full Transcript »