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You don't "have to". You freely forfeited your beliefs for a sale. Certainly lefty idealism but the West has a limited window of influence to improve how China
by oliwarner 8y ago
You don't "have to". You freely forfeited your beliefs for a sale.
Certainly lefty idealism but the West has a limited window of influence to improve how China projects its power.
23m Taiwanese people depend on somebody saying no. To ignore the PRCs demands. We've already let 13m Chinese Muslims get sent to concentration camps. We broadly ignored the incorporation of Tibet. Great Firewall, political incarceration, no problem, China, just keep making our stuff and investing.
Again, out window of opportunity to do something here is closing. Strong economic sanctions have to come quickly. But we also have to use every bit of defiance to resist behaviour that is clearly wrong.
- anvandare 8y agoPeople will avoid a fight they could easily win until it becomes a fight they will have to win. (By which time it might be too late.) Very roughly, the Western Ideal is to win wars by strength and decisive battles. While the Eastern Ideal is to win wars by endurance and maneuvering and, if possible, avoiding battle altogether. The latter is more realistic. (Permit me the pun: We may one day find ourselves readying for a Marathon, only to discover we've already lost the marathon.)
- thaumasiotes 8y ago> People will avoid a fight they could easily win until it becomes a fight they will have to win. (By which time it might be too late.) There is a good reason for this. There could be a thousand potential fights, all of which you would easily win. But if you had to fight them all, you'd get worn down, and probably lose one of them.
- pjc50 8y ago> the Western Ideal is to win wars by strength and decisive battles. I think a lot of historians would argue with you on this one, not least how the two world wars were both intended to be quick and decisive, but also since the invention of nuclear weapons what it actually means to "win".
- dalbasal 8y ago"the West has a limited window of influence to improve how China projects its power" There's an irony in that statement. The "limited window" is a window to project power, presumably. The current western take on Taiwan is that it's an independent country. That's not even uncontroversial in taiwan. Regardless, the current position evolved from the earlier one: the Taiwanese regime is the legitimate Chinese regime. It's complex and history-ridden.
- oliwarner 8y ago> The current western take... ... is worthless if they allow the PRC to penalise countries, companies and individuals for just recognising Taiwan as a state. Or allowing PRC to takes military control of water and air space all around Taiwan. We can recognise Taiwan all day long, as we have recognised Palestine for some 52 years. But until you get the local power to also recognise it, you're just whistling in the wind.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoWho is in the position to allow or disallow China from doing what it wants to do?
- oliwarner 8y agoWe are, at every level. Personally resist, ignoring political demands en-mass, refusing to open offices in a totalitarian state, international sanctions for actions against on neighbouring states and diplomatically agreed semi-autonomous regions (HK). China is powerful but if they can't sell to us, all their plans are for naught.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoAnd if the world can't buy cheap things from China, then all the assumptions priced into the debt and economic growth will be wrong.