Thiessen speculates that Ramaswamy’s connection with China may “explain why Ramaswamy is so willing to cede Taiwan to China.” But the candidate’s position on defending Taiwan — that the U.S. should defend it “only as far as 2028,” when, supposedly we will have achieved semiconductor independence — is half clever enough for him to have come up it absent any business dealings with China.

My problem with Ramaswamy’s China dealings doesn’t involve Taiwan, as strongly as I disagree with his position on the subject. My problem is that in 2017, when pretty much everyone understood the Chinese menace and Ramaswamy’s supposed hero Donald Trump was getting tough on the CCP, this candidate went into business with the Chinese regime. And he doubled down on these dealings in 2019.