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The situation with Taiwan (an independent - if unrecognised - country) is very different to HK which was a separately governed province of China.
by nl 6y ago
The situation with Taiwan (an independent - if unrecognised - country) is very different to HK which was a separately governed province of China.
- ChuckMcM 6y agoThis statement conflicts with my understanding of the British rule of Hong Kong and the accords under which is was placed under the sovereignty of China.
- bigfudge 6y agoHK was always going g to be returned to the Chinese. It took 20 years for the charade to end, but the situation is different to Taiwan.
- elefanten 6y agoYou’re not responding to the point. There was a clear deal in place regarding how China could govern/change Hong Kong, with strict timelines. China broke its word and trashed the deal. Eventual certainty notwithstanding — the CCP demonstrated (as it has oh so many other times) that their word is unusually unreliable, even in the shitty arena of international politics.
- nl 6y agoThat's the point I was making originally btw. HK relies on Chinas word. Taiwan doesn't.
- bigfudge 5y agoI'm late returning to this, and I don't normally like whataboutism, and I don't want to be seen to be condoning what is happening in HK, but I have very low expectations for nations keeping commitments made in international politics. I think everyone was pretty clear when the HK deal was struck that it wouldn't make the distance. The UK just wanted to avoid rocking the boat + there was very little that could be done. The US has renagaged on several international agreements in recent history — we all know that these agreements reflect the preferences of those in power at the time and are contingent on it remaining convenient.
- nl 6y agoChina's treatment of HK was supposed to be regulated by a treaty with the UK - but as you point out it was under the sovereignty of China. That's pretty different to Taiwan which has never been under the sovereignty of China.
- ChuckMcM 6y ago> That's pretty different to Taiwan which has never been under the sovereignty of China. You see, if China agreed with your statement diplomacy would be a lot easier. But few things anger the Chinese more than asserting that it does not have sovereignty over Taiwan, the only other one I can think of is that Tibet should be free to be its own country.
- nl 6y agoSure, this is true. But Taiwan has a functional, large military, friends in Washington and economic consequences to an invasion. HK had umbrellas and a few strongly worded newspaper columns.