Jiang Zemin

The quiet acceptance of the expulsion of Col. Bradley Gerdes (Jan. 17), assistant U.S. Air Force attache in Beijing, by the Clinton administration is the culmination of its capitulation policy. While Washington has no lobbyists in Beijing to champion the cause of freedom and democracy and American national interests, we have people like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her banker husband, Richard Blum, who has business interests with China, praising Chinese President Jiang Zemin and defending Beijing’s actions and interests without shame (Jan. 18).

I have to agree with Feinstein that “people in the Western world have dismissed [Jiang] without understanding his full potential as a leader.” Jiang has the potential to lead China in a head-on collision course with the U.S. and the West within the next decade.

DAVID H. MA

Federation for a Democratic China

Monterey Park

* In “Feinstein Says Chinese Leader Deserves Respect” there was a clear reference to Feinstein’s husband, Blum, “who accompanied Feinstein to China and who has business interests here.”

Am I missing something, or is there a conflict of interest that arises when one of the two senators who most strongly advocates “a more positive relationship with the world’s most populous country” and who is “an outspoken critic of Taiwanese lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill” is married to somebody who has everything to gain financially from her maintaining that posture? Either her family needs to divest itself of all investments that could benefit from her outspoken position, or she should resign from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

ALAN GREENBAUM

Thousand Oaks