this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Whats the deal with china and taiwan? Is it the same shit as russia and ukraine?
Edit: why am i being downvoted? Am i not allowed to be uninformed?
Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China (ROC), ruled by the nationalist KMT, after the defeat of Imperial Japan, which had occupied it. The KMT forces lost the civil war on the mainland against the communists and fled to Taiwan, claiming to be the true government of China. The ROC was a military dictatorship until the late 80s and responsible for the White Terror. At first, the communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) couldn't follow and invade Taiwan because they lacked a navy, and soon after, the ROC got US protection (Taiwan was in important US military base during the Korean war).
In the 70s, Nixon recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing as the legitimate government of China, and un-recognized Taipei. He also signed an agreement with the PRC stating that there is one China, and that Taiwan is part of China. White House spokespeople reaffirm this regularly when asked. They never actually properly committed to this though: In practice the US treats Taiwan almost like it is independent, but they avoid calling it that officially. So the US is arguably in breach of its agreement with China on this point, and always was (though I think this was understood by all sides at the time of signing).
In this agreement, the US also promised to work towards reunification and to demilitarize Taiwan. They did in fact remove US troops from Taiwan and scaled down weapons deliveries. Lately though, they are increasingly breaking these promises with more weapons deliveries, more US military personnel on Taiwan, and open support for pro-independence positions and politicians.
The PRC for its part promised to work towards peaceful reunification and not use military force. So far they haven't, so this is currently a one-sided breach of the agreement by the US. Why is the US breaking an agreement that so far has prevented a military conflict?
Both Beijing, as well as the majority of people on Taiwan, are in favor of continuing the status quo for a while longer. But Beijing has made it clear that they will not accept Taiwan declaring independence, and they certainly do not want a hostile military presence so close to the Chinese mainland and important port cities. The PRC has threatened to blockade/invade Taiwan if independence is declared or if there is a military buildup.
This mostly correct.
But the US isn't responsible for Taiwan's increased interest in independence. Taiwan is.
After the Sunflower Movement and witnessing what happened to HK, young Taiwanese are overwhelmingly in favor of independence. So much so that independence has become all but stated as the platform of the DPP. The KMT is now the pro-unification party, but outside of the last mid-terms, they have been getting slaughtered in elections and had to tone down their pro-China rhetoric.
Status quo is definitely still the overall majority, but that is going to change with demographics and the next generation overwhelmingly favor independence.
As they should. China was not the first owner of Taiwan, and over the course of Taiwan's history, their control of the island was relatively short. This is not even speaking of the Indigenous Taiwanese who are always left out of the conversation about Taiwan and have never been citizens of China or had Chinese heritage.
If China wanted peaceful unification they can have it tomorrow.
Cede all power to Taiwan and they can be one country. They definitely won't be bullied by Taiwan and unlike China Taiwan would accept differing opinions. It's been done successfully before to a large extent. East and West Germany joined together as one country without the need for border fences or two systems in one country. Just imagine what a basket case of a country if it happened the other way around. 2 systems, border fences different currencies, declining standings on corruption, political freedom etc.
But of course they'll never do that. Because deep down it's not the country they care about. They only care about the CCP itself.
Edit: looks like the wumaos are in force, not surprising as a large number of them are otherwise unemployed now 😂
During the Communist revolution the republic government was losing pretty badly and fell back to the very defensible island. They've been there ever since with their official name: the Republic of China. So there's some civil war tension there and a lot of claims of who's the rightful ruler of China.
Please don't skip the critical pieces of information:
The British and USA sent war ships to defend the KMT on Taiwan because they had been trading and negotiating junior status with the KMT and did not want the West to lose access to Chinese markets, labor, and natural resources.
The KMT immediately launched a 40-year terror campaign, called the White Terror, on the island of Taiwan and killed native Islanders as well as Han Chinese who argued that the war should be ended. The European powers funded, traded, and armed this terror.
Taiwan has been part of the nation of China for centuries. It could be argued that the distinct cultural group of native Islanders could get its own autonomous administration region, but the natives don't have much population on the island. The island has been Chinese and is inhabited by Chinese who lost the civil war and tried to secede under the protection of the Europeans, with the Europeans motivated by having a fully dependent neo-colony by prolonging the civil war and supporting the fascist terror.
Since you are talking about historic precedence, what is called "China" today should be called West-Taiwan because the Republic of China aka Taiwan is the original China, preceding the "P"RC.
"West Taiwan" is silly because Tawian is an island. If you want to use the term then in the sense of "Tainan is in West Taiwan" because it is, indeed, on the western coast.
How about "autonomous mainland provinces".
I like your suggestion!
Taiwan's position is no longer that it is the rightful ruler of China. That notion died with Chiang Kai-shek and nobody with a shred of a brain truly believes it.
The PRC won the fight over who "legitimate China" is when the UN gave them the seat for China. Also, one of these is an international superpower and the other is Taiwan.
In a short TLDR; Taiwan wants independence, China doesnt want Taiwan to be independent, claim Taiwan belongs to China