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Taiwan: The threat that the world ignores
- lioeters 6y agoTo clarify, the "threat" in the title refers to China, not Taiwan who is the one feeling threatened.
- _Microft 6y agoWhy is Taiwan still so interesting for China? It's not like they could have anything that China hasn't. Is it that China is convinced that the island was rightfully theirs once and that they would lose face with any other outcome?
- xiaolingxiao 6y agoIt's the waters around Taiwan and maritime rights. If Taiwan is independent, then the US could set up a naval base there, and Taiwan is only 110 mi away from the U.S. Proximity is the reason why the US embargoed Cuba, and why the Cuban missile crisis was a crisis.
- nickff 6y agoMost political actions are driven by the desire of individuals in the ruling group (selectorate) to stay in power; in the case of groups like the CPC, this involves a continuous competition to prove loyalty and ideological purity. One of the tenets of CPC orthodoxy is that Taiwan and Tibet are parts of China, thus all members must continually voice a desire to 'unify' the country. It doesn't make any economic or political sense, but saying that out loud would brand you 'reactionary' or a 'counter-revolutionary' in China.
- bigpumpkin 6y agoIt ultimately comes from a thousand years tradition that treats the unification of China as the highest political ideal.
- ipnon 6y agoEvery principle of the CCP demands annexation of Taiwan. The existence of the CCP is predicated by what they call "One China Consensus".
- Analemma_ 6y agohttps://argumate.tumblr.com/post/623899209993781248/argumate-easternestablishmentarian https://argumate.tumblr.com/post/623899209993781248/argumate... is a really good post about this. Here’s the money quote: “Naïve Westerners who want to know when China is just going to give into common sense and recognize Taiwan might as well ask when Rome is going to canonize Luther or Calvin. It’s not like the American party system, where American political parties are mostly just vehicles for people to raise money and get elected and don’t have any permanent long-term strategy measured in centuries. There’s real metaphysics here.”
- RugnirViking 6y agoThe CCP does not have any permanent strategy measured in centuries. They haven't even existed for one single century yet. More centralised and less democratic societies are better at long term planning, not because of some innate property of the Chinese, no matter how hard they believe it.
- javagram 6y agoGoa was part of Portugal for 400 years, yet once India was unified they invaded and conquered it. Don’t underestimate the motivational power of nationalism. Humans in the 21st century aren’t really any different from those in the 20th century or 19th century, there’s still a great attraction to seize territory you feel belongs to your nation.
- blackrock 6y agoTaiwan has the one single most important asset of all: territory. And no, TSMC is not important. In fact, it is irrelevant. Ask yourself the question, would you give up Hawaii? What if they wanted to go independent, and reinstate their monarchy? What would you do? Supposedly, in a democracy, you should be able to vote for your own independence. But in reality, that never happens.
- Aeronwen 6y ago>Ask yourself the question, would you give up Hawaii? What if they wanted to go independent, and reinstate their monarchy? What would you do? If the vote represented a majority of the Hawaiian citizenship, and they had a plausible plan to stay a sovereignty. I'd be fine with it.
- blackrock 6y agoLOL. Tell that to Catalonia, or Scotland, or even the Confederate States of America.
- ipnon 6y ago"The strong do what they can and the weak do what they must." If Taiwan cannot repel an invasion, then it will be invaded. The CCP has the political will.
- m00x 6y agoFrom the progress China has done to their military, Taiwan might be today, but Japan, Canada and eventually the USA will be next. While the US is paralyzed by incompetent leadership and money-hoarding billionaires, China's leadership puts everything back into their infrastructure and military. Their growth is only accelerating each year.
- tinus_hn 6y agoNo corruption in Glorious China!
- christkv 6y agoTaiwan should go nuclear. It is the only true deterrent against a totalitarian nationalist power like China. Something like the minutemen missiles the UK had would be an effective deterrent.
- ipnon 6y agoIt is not so simple. China has declared that a Taiwanese nuclear weapons program would trigger their immediate invasion. The political calculus is too risky. There are not many simple solutions to the problem generally.
- bsder 6y agoI don't think people are ignoring it at all. TSMC opening up fabs back in the US shows that people are taking the threat from China quite seriously.
- m00x 6y agoYou mean TSMC, a Taiwanese comapny, is taking the threat seriously. By people, they meant the other non-Taiwanese people. I can assure you that the Taiwanese population takes this threat seriously.
- count 6y agoYou mean TSMC, under pressure from Intel and the US Govt as part of the Secure Foundries effort, is taking the threat seriously.