I'm John Bats with Josh Rogan of the Washington Post who writes global opinions.

He also observes the most recent presentation by the Republican candidates for the presidency

in 2024.

We've established Mr. Biden's administration's policy towards East Asia and towards the

contest the people's Republic of China brings to everyone out there.

The attack on Taiwan could very well involve conflict with Japan, South Korea and the

Philippines, a nightmare.

So we come to the possibility that it will be a Republican administration in some fashion.

And what did we learn from the first debate?

Josh, it wasn't a big focus but there was reference to China.

It was reference to what is to be done.

You characterize the Republicans generally as hawks but there are various kinds of hawks,

Josh.

And so what we're looking at here is did they strike you as well informed of the difficulties

of backing the troubled Taiwan and also the extreme fragility of our relationships.

We've been talking about them and how they need attention, constant attention.

You can't just turn it over to Rama Manuel and not show up again.

Right.

Well, it's true that the GOP primary race has become a competition to see who can sound

the most hawkish on Taiwan.

When you sort of kick the tires of each of these candidates, you'll see that a lot of

their plans just don't make any sense at all and a lot of them also contradict their records

...