In fact, this just makes the whole episode worse. If she was going there to establish some credibility and lay down a marker to show that she can hang in that environment, she pretty much face planted.

I agree. She absolutely did not succeed in establishing any strong credibility in foreign policy.

Blowing a geography point is far from ideal, but understandable - anyone can make those kinds of mistakes even if they actually do know which countries are north and south of the equator. If I had a nickel for every time I called one of my kids by the dog's name, I'd be a wealthy man. Even though I genuinely do know my kids' names.

However, the Taiwan response was bad. As you point out, that's a big important topic. Even if you want to be cagey about your response (and you should! It's a delicate topic with a lot of diplomatic nuances and complications if you say something that differs from the Administration!), you should at least have formulated your thoughts enough to be able to give a cagey response.