4 ms·

The Korean War has technically not achieved a final peace, only reached an armstice [0]. There's been many incidents along the border [1], notably the Axe Murde

by cjslep 10y ago

The Korean War has technically not achieved a final peace, only reached an armstice [0]. There's been many incidents along the border [1], notably the Axe Murder Incident [2]. The Korean war was a conflict primarily between North Korea and China versus South Korea and the United States. However, a relative was in the CIA at the time and I have the distinct impression from them that the US was also shooting down Russian airplanes, as they were shooting down ours, in the conflict. Should conflict restart, there's no telling who would get involved again. Taiwan has a complicated history where Japan had gotten China to cede the island in the 19th Century, then tried to leverage it to take over China during WWII, then when WWII was over and the Chinese Civil War went into full swing the losing Republic of China (which had replaced the Qing dynasty) fled millions of people to the island. The ROC government remains there governing Taiwan defacto, but the PRC considers it part of its borders in a dejure fashion. Since recognizing Taiwan as an independent nation would 100% surely anger China, the US has not done so [3]. The disparity between reality and theory has yet to be rectified and resolving it would definitely take armed conflict. This would destabilize the region and threaten a significant amount of the world's shipping [4]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involving_North_Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_invol... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident [3] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35855.htm http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35855.htm [4] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Shipping_routes_red_black.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Shipping...

studentrob 10y ago
> The disparity between reality and theory has yet to be rectified and resolving it would definitely take armed conflict I'm not sure anything is definite. Neither side has made any real moves to resolve the conflict, just feints. The rest of the world seems to support easing tensions when they arise rather than exacerbating them.
- cjslep 10y ago
  Historically, neither side has made real moves and no one wants to increase tension precisely because of each side understands their opponent is still highly committed to defending their way of life. The US does not want to attempt to get China to back down because that would just anger them. And the US does not want to lose a possible ally in Taiwan in getting them to back down. China does not want to overtly bully Taiwan because it does not want US relations to degrade. So with diplomacy out, neither side wants to resort to "forceful diplomacy"/"military persuasion"/whatever newspeak. So both sides have, until recently, acted paralyzed in the status quo. But I disagree with the "just feints" notion in present day. The nine-dash-line strategy means China is no longer acting paralyzed in the region. I'm not qualified to guess whether it is part of a long Taiwan game or something different, but I would assert it certainly is not a feint and not easing tensions.
  - studentrob 10y ago
    > But I disagree with the "just feints" notion in present day Maybe saying "feeling each other out" would be better than "feints". At any rate, that's just my perception. I'm also not qualified to say what's what. Countries continue to trade with each other, and there are diplomatic ties between the US, China and Russia. They continue to have some common goals, in spite of some differences. I think overall that's a positive thing. I trust our leaders to decide how to deal with various strategies put forth by other countries. History was pretty interesting and tense at times. So is the present. I believe the ties are better these days among nations than they were 40-70 years ago. Monarchies used to send family members to each other to keep the peace. We try to do the same with diplomacy where possible.

by cjslep 10y ago

studentrob 10y ago

> The disparity between reality and theory has yet to be rectified and resolving it would definitely take armed conflict I'm not sure anything is definite. Neither side has made any real moves to resolve the conflict, just feints. The rest of the world seems to support easing tensions when they arise rather than exacerbating them.

cjslep 10y ago
Historically, neither side has made real moves and no one wants to increase tension precisely because of each side understands their opponent is still highly committed to defending their way of life. The US does not want to attempt to get China to back down because that would just anger them. And the US does not want to lose a possible ally in Taiwan in getting them to back down. China does not want to overtly bully Taiwan because it does not want US relations to degrade. So with diplomacy out, neither side wants to resort to "forceful diplomacy"/"military persuasion"/whatever newspeak. So both sides have, until recently, acted paralyzed in the status quo. But I disagree with the "just feints" notion in present day. The nine-dash-line strategy means China is no longer acting paralyzed in the region. I'm not qualified to guess whether it is part of a long Taiwan game or something different, but I would assert it certainly is not a feint and not easing tensions.
- studentrob 10y ago
  > But I disagree with the "just feints" notion in present day Maybe saying "feeling each other out" would be better than "feints". At any rate, that's just my perception. I'm also not qualified to say what's what. Countries continue to trade with each other, and there are diplomatic ties between the US, China and Russia. They continue to have some common goals, in spite of some differences. I think overall that's a positive thing. I trust our leaders to decide how to deal with various strategies put forth by other countries. History was pretty interesting and tense at times. So is the present. I believe the ties are better these days among nations than they were 40-70 years ago. Monarchies used to send family members to each other to keep the peace. We try to do the same with diplomacy where possible.