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They have always considered Taiwan part of China. The US even agreed and signed a treaty regarding that. The United States' One-China policy was first stated i
by lenkite 4y ago
They have always considered Taiwan part of China. The US even agreed and signed a treaty regarding that.
The United States' One-China policy was first stated in the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972: "the United States acknowledges that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China.
Since then, the US devolved first to strategic ambiguity and then recently to supporting Taiwanese Independence in the Biden Era. The Chinese are not going to take it lying down. Nationalism matters a lot to Chinese - if you think this is simply a Xi endeavour, you are sadly, sadly mistaken. Even if Xi died today, the vast majority of the high command will decide to carry forth.
Unfortunately, War is generally a snowballing, self-fulfilling prophecy. Since the U.S. has now gained access to four new Philippine bases, China will be forced to respond as well. The game of escalation will continue until the final pin drops.
Personally, I really don't think super-powers should be stubborn. There should be new negotiations and there should b e a revised Shanghai Communique. China is unlikely to accept an fully independent island so close to their border though and will want some control over Taiwanese governance. Its too much of a threat to them otherwise.
If you think the position un-reasonable, turn the situation around and judge the way the U.S. treats Cuba - strong-armed and watched over by the Guantanamo Bay military base and sanctioned to death and you might get an idea of what China's starting negotiation position will likely to be.
- gscott 4y agoTaiwan's output of chips requires inputs from the rest of the world including Japan. At this time it doesn't make sense for china to cut out it's main source of high tech chips. It could make sense later if China had its own supply of chips and could cut out Taiwan altogether. China is pushing hard to make their own non-liberal order but China also depends on exports. Also China's political system is based upon absolute control over everything a person does. It will be messy implementing that onto people who already fought against it so there will be a lot of killings, disappearing people, and the usual China stuff broadcast all of time. Will be a bad look, not great to throw that in the face of people you need to export goods to. We have no political control in Cuba even though we did take a portion of the island.
- lenkite 4y ago> We have no political control in Cuba even though we did take a portion of the island. I think the Chinese will be extremely happy with a similar arrangement. Taiwanese government can continue, there will just be a nice, big military base right next door keeping an eye. I am sure all those folks captured and tortured in Guantanamo Bay in "independent" Cuba were very happy with the level of control the U.S. applied there. Something that would have still been hidden and a state secret if not for Wikileaks. But the guy who leaked it has now been made to pay for it and is now imprisoned and in isolation.
- gscott 4y agoSometimes a country puts people into work camps for holding up a blank piece of paper, sometimes not.
- adastra22 4y ago> They have always considered Taiwan part of China. The US even agreed and signed a treaty regarding that. The US has signed no such treaty.