Allies?

If your best ally didn’t allow you to take a short cut across your front yard every once in a great while, would he still be your ally?

Yeah, I suppose so.

But would you wonder if he would really and truly defend you against the big bully next door, in the bully’s backyard, when he was so afraid of the big bully that he wouldn’t let you cross his front yard once in a while?

Yeah, I suppose so.

With things like this going on, I think this US ally ought to have anti-bully contigency plans that exclude its faraway and fearful ally:

Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian has decided to avoid the United States on his journey home from a Latin American visit, as officials played down the fall-out of the diplomatic spat between the island and its closest ally.

Taiwan has been upset that the United States would only permit Chen transit via Alaska, instead of a preferred stopover in New York en route to the region.

[Red] Chinese officials…chafe whenever leaders from the island get U.S. approval to transit or visit.