John Bolton's Review of Dan Blumenthal's New Book on China

choi

John Bolton, Beijing Never Got the Memo; China is not the juggernaut of Wall Street financiers' imaginations, but that doesn't make its expansionism any less of a threat. Wall Street Journal, Nov 16, 2020
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... he-memo-11605476188
(book review on Dan Blumenthal, The China Nightmare; The grand ambitions of a decaying state. American Enterprise Institute, 2020)

Quote:

(a) "He [Blumenthal] rejects the conventional thinking that China's domestic economy is still moving from strength to strength [except for rolling back market-oriented reforms in favor of increased state control and impairing innovation-based economy, the review does not explain more], thereby providing Chinese president Xi Jinping and the Communist Party with the wherewithal to insist on China's centrality in Asia and to Challenge the US globally.

(b) "Beijing apparently never received the memo that the age of empire is over. The Chinese communists have focused on fully restoring the Wing empire's boundaries, and no lacuna in achieving that goal is more painful than Taiwan's de facto independence.

(c) "it [China] doubtless hopes Mr Biden's team will find those pesky Taiwanese as much a nuisance as did Jimmy Carter, for thwarting what Mr Blumenthal calls China's 'main strategic-military priority since the end of the Cold War.'  

"Taiwan's example of democracy and openness, Mr Blumenthal contends, is enormously disruptive on the mainland. The US could put the Communist Party in a vise by using information statecraft and other forms of political warfare. China has for years been waging political warfare against us, so it is well past to implement a counterstrategy. * * *

"While a true grand strategy toward China is urgently needed, beijing's obsession with Taiwan provides Washington an asymmetric response to objectionable Chinese behavior. We can answer its belligerence and intransigence through diplomatic or political means, wounding the Chinese Communists deeply and simultaneously boosting Taiwan.

"The most consequential step, one I have urged for over 20 years, is for America to grant Taiwan full diplomatic recognition. By all customary international law criteria (a defined territory and population, a capital city, and a government carrying out normal governmental functions), Taiwan is a sovereign state, and democratic to boot. Relations between the US and China would chill dramatically, but that is what China should fear, not America. There are smaller steps Washington should take. We could, for example, regularly receive Taiwanese officials in US government buildings, which would seriously undermine the legitimacy of China's campaign to for Taiwan into a morganatic union.

My comment:
(a) View points of Bolton or Blumenthal are well known. So there is no need to read the rest of this review, of which there is no pirated copy anyway. But there are interesting English words or terms. See next.
(b) lacuna (n; plural: lacunae (which is Latin plural) or lacunas; Did You Know?"):
"1: a blank space or a missing part : GAP  <the evident lacunae in his story — Shirley Hazzard>
2: a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure [can be on the surface of a bone or on a cellular surface (microscopically)]"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lacuna

Quote: "Did You Know?   Exploring the etymology of lacuna involves taking a plunge into the pit - or maybe a leap into the 'lacus' (that's the Latin word for 'lake'). Latin speakers modified 'lacus' into 'lacuna,' and used it to mean 'pit,' 'cleft,' or 'pool.' English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. Another English word that traces its origin to 'lacuna' is 'lagoon,' which came to us by way of Italian [Modern Italian noun feminine laguna lagoon] and French [Modern French noun feminine lagune lagoon].

Modern Spanish noun feminine laguna lagoon. Hence
Laguna Beach, California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Beach,_California
("is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County * * * In 2004, MTV created a reality television show entitled Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, which aired for three seasons. Laguna Beach is the setting for the Netflix television series Dead to Me [2019 - present]")
(i) In Oxford (Lexico.com) the Etymology of lacuna is "Mid 17th century from Latin [noun feminine lacuna] pool [or pit], from [noun masculine] lacus lake"
(ii)
(A) Shirley Hazzard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Hazzard
(1931 - 2016 (died in Manhattan; born in Sidney to to a Welsh father (Reginald Hazzard) ); an Australian-American novelist
(B) Hazzard is a variant of the "English (also established in Ireland), French, and Dutch" surname Hazard, the latter being "nickname for an inveterate gambler or a brave or foolhardy man prepared to run risks, from Middle English, Old French hasard, Middle Dutch hasaert (derived from Old French) 'game of chance' " played with dice. Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford Univ Press.

(b) morganatic union

First and foremost, The Welsh surname Morgan is "from the Old Welsh personal name Morcant, which is of uncertain but ancient etymology." (meaning unclear). That surname has nothing to do with morganastic marriage.

There is  no need to read the rest of any citations below)
(i) morganatic marriage. Encyclopaedia Britannica, undated
https://www.britannica.com/topic/morganatic-marriage
("Essentially a German institution, it was adopted by some dynasties outside Germany but not by those of France or England. The practice ensues from the German notion of Ebenbürtigkeit, or Gleichbürtigkeit (evenness or equality of birth), which in the European Middle Ages had a widespread application in German law. It required that parties to many sorts of transaction be of the same standing or estate, but it could not be an impediment to marriage in the law of the church")
(ii) morganatic marriage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morganatic_marriage
("sometimes called a left-handed marriage * * * neither the bride nor any children of the marriage have a claim on the bridegroom's succession rights, titles, precedence, or entailed property. The children are considered legitimate for all other purposes and the prohibition against bigamy applies. * * * [section 4 History, section 4.3 German-speaking Europe] The practice of morganatic marriage was most common in the German-speaking parts of Europe, where equality of birth (Ebenbürtigkeit) between the spouses was considered an important principle among the reigning houses and high nobility. The German name was Ehe zur linken Hand ('marriage by the left hand') and the husband gave his left hand during the wedding ceremony instead of the right. [footnotes omitted; presumably when the couple were face to face rather than side by side, though I fail to find an illustration or description] * * * [section 4.3 United Kingdom] The concept of morganatic marriage has never clearly existed in any part of the United Kingdom, and historically the English crown descended through marriages with commoners * * * Only two of the six marriages Henry VIII * * * were with royal brides")

But what is the purpose of such a marriage, if the husband can not marry another woman (bigamy not permitted) and who inherited if his children can not?  See next.
(iii) morganatic marriage. New World Encyclopedia, undated
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Morganatic_marriage
("Morganatic marriage results from the incompatibility that arises when royalty, or aristocracy, who are generally expected to follow the standards expected of them as public figures in all aspects of their life including choosing an appropriate marriage partner, and the personal desire to marry someone with whom they share romantic love. When these two are not in harmony, morganatic marriage became the solution")
(iv)
(A) About. Shannonselin.com, undated
https://shannonselin.com/about/  
("Shannon Selin was born and raised in the small town of Biggar, Saskatchewan * * * Shannon now writes historical fiction full time. * * * Shannon has a BA in Political Science from the University of Saskatchewan and an MA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia. She and her husband live in Stratford, Canada. They have three grown children")
(B) Shannon Selin, Morganatic Marriage: Left-Handed Royal Love. Shannonselin.com, undated (probably in early January, 2018).
https://shannonselin.com/2018/01/morganatic-marriage/
(v) German-English dictionary:
* eben (adj; cognate with English even [derived from Old English efen): "flat, even"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eben
* bürtigkeit
https://books.google.com/books?i ... tionary&f=false
(noun feminine  "equality of birth")
* Ehe (noun feminine): "marriage"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ehe
* zur (contraction of [preposition] zu [to] + der): "to the"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zur
* The inken is an inflection of
linker (adj): "left"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/linker
* Hand (noun feminine): "hand"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hand