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It is a self-governing, "free" "country" whose founding political party supports the policy of "one China, two systems," and where recent elections saw China-ho

It is a self-governing, "free" "country" whose founding political party supports the policy of "one China, two systems," and where recent elections saw China-hostile politicians decimated. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/26/1139270577/taiwan-election-president-resigns-china https://www.npr.org/2022/11/26/1139270577/taiwan-election-pr... edit: What the US is doing with Taiwan is not being done based on consultation with the Taiwanese people. It is not for the Taiwanese.

jeswin 4y ago
Two systems as in Hong Kong? Btw, those were local elections and if you've been reading Taiwanese news sources, you'd find that nobody saw those elections as a referendum on joining China.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Hong Kong was a British colony seized from China by force, and reverted to Chinese governance as scheduled. The idea that China should respect Britain's status quo is laughable.
  - jeswin 4y ago
    Sure, I agree. I was only implying that nobody takes the "One-country two-systems" promise seriously. Much less the Taiwanese.
Apocryphon 4y ago
Politics are, as they say, local. The KMT doing well in recent elections are due to a lot of different issues, not necessarily something as abstract and high-minded as the status of the nation. A periodic election is not the same thing as a national referendum.
mezentius 4y ago
It's almost as if you didn't read the article you linked, which summarizes, "the elections likely hinged on local issues, not China." Polls indicate that the Taiwanese overwhelmingly want to either "maintain the status quo" or "maintain the status quo with incremental movement toward independence" (https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/PageDoc/Detail?fid=7801&id=6963 https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/PageDoc/Detail?fid=7801&id=6963), which is entirely what the US policy is intended to support! Like the Taiwanese people, we also don't want an apocalyptic conflict with China when the status quo is already de facto independence, regardless of what we call it to appease nationalist factions in Chinese domestic politics.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  > which summarizes, "the elections likely hinged on local issues, not China." It's almost as if this is NPR's editorial opinion, rather than a fact about Taiwan. I intentionally linked a hostile article.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    A pre-election article "If Not Cross-strait Issues, What Are The 2022 Elections About?" > CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS are not the dominant frame of this election cycle. Namely, nine-in-one elections, which serve as midterms between presidential elections, are primarily about local issues rather than cross-strait issues. Cross-strait relations are for Taiwanese, after all, largely a matter of foreign policy. > As such, it would not surprise if the KMT performed well in this set of elections. The KMT has always had a stronger grip over local politics, seeing as its local clientelist and patronage networks date back to the authoritarian period. As the party that rose out of Taiwan’s democracy movement in past decades–and which may have had two presidents but never controlled the Taiwanese legislature until the first term of the Tsai administration–the DPP is still unable to break the stranglehold of the KMT over local politics. > However, the key domestic election issues that voters will be voting on return to Taiwan’s economic outlook and its demographic challenges. Taiwan’s economy has seen growth, particularly with regards to exports, due to the minimized effects of COVID-19 after going for more than a year without any lockdowns as the rest of the world saw, and outbreaks that were contained with relative speed when COVID-19 did finally enter Taiwan. But such growth has not trickled down to the population writ large. As such, the issue of stagnant wages is a major issue up for contention. https://newbloommag.net/2022/11/24/cross-domestic-issues-2022/ https://newbloommag.net/2022/11/24/cross-domestic-issues-202...
  - mezentius 4y ago
    That is NPR's analysis of the situation, based on expertise, available information, and reliable polling such as that which I linked above. "Opinion" is reading an article, then entirely ignoring its conclusions and supporting data because you think you know better.

jeswin 4y ago

Two systems as in Hong Kong? Btw, those were local elections and if you've been reading Taiwanese news sources, you'd find that nobody saw those elections as a referendum on joining China.

pessimizer 4y ago
Hong Kong was a British colony seized from China by force, and reverted to Chinese governance as scheduled. The idea that China should respect Britain's status quo is laughable.
- jeswin 4y ago
  Sure, I agree. I was only implying that nobody takes the "One-country two-systems" promise seriously. Much less the Taiwanese.

Apocryphon 4y ago

Politics are, as they say, local. The KMT doing well in recent elections are due to a lot of different issues, not necessarily something as abstract and high-minded as the status of the nation. A periodic election is not the same thing as a national referendum.

mezentius 4y ago

It's almost as if you didn't read the article you linked, which summarizes, "the elections likely hinged on local issues, not China." Polls indicate that the Taiwanese overwhelmingly want to either "maintain the status quo" or "maintain the status quo with incremental movement toward independence" (https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/PageDoc/Detail?fid=7801&id=6963 https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/PageDoc/Detail?fid=7801&id=6963), which is entirely what the US policy is intended to support! Like the Taiwanese people, we also don't want an apocalyptic conflict with China when the status quo is already de facto independence, regardless of what we call it to appease nationalist factions in Chinese domestic politics.

pessimizer 4y ago
> which summarizes, "the elections likely hinged on local issues, not China." It's almost as if this is NPR's editorial opinion, rather than a fact about Taiwan. I intentionally linked a hostile article.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  A pre-election article "If Not Cross-strait Issues, What Are The 2022 Elections About?" > CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS are not the dominant frame of this election cycle. Namely, nine-in-one elections, which serve as midterms between presidential elections, are primarily about local issues rather than cross-strait issues. Cross-strait relations are for Taiwanese, after all, largely a matter of foreign policy. > As such, it would not surprise if the KMT performed well in this set of elections. The KMT has always had a stronger grip over local politics, seeing as its local clientelist and patronage networks date back to the authoritarian period. As the party that rose out of Taiwan’s democracy movement in past decades–and which may have had two presidents but never controlled the Taiwanese legislature until the first term of the Tsai administration–the DPP is still unable to break the stranglehold of the KMT over local politics. > However, the key domestic election issues that voters will be voting on return to Taiwan’s economic outlook and its demographic challenges. Taiwan’s economy has seen growth, particularly with regards to exports, due to the minimized effects of COVID-19 after going for more than a year without any lockdowns as the rest of the world saw, and outbreaks that were contained with relative speed when COVID-19 did finally enter Taiwan. But such growth has not trickled down to the population writ large. As such, the issue of stagnant wages is a major issue up for contention. https://newbloommag.net/2022/11/24/cross-domestic-issues-2022/ https://newbloommag.net/2022/11/24/cross-domestic-issues-202...
- mezentius 4y ago
  That is NPR's analysis of the situation, based on expertise, available information, and reliable polling such as that which I linked above. "Opinion" is reading an article, then entirely ignoring its conclusions and supporting data because you think you know better.