Friday, June 7, 2013
Will the situation with Taiwan be a bigger concern to us than Iran in 2010?
Will the situation with Taiwan be a bigger concern to us than Iran in 2010?
I talked to a student from China who left when he was 8 years old. He has since gone back to visit. He said that China is pressuring Taiwan to join their Olympic team. That this is their last diplomatic overture. In 2010 Mainland China will resort to military force to bring Taiwan into the fold. What will our position be?
Taiwan - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
This is a very sad situation. We have a belligerent, emerging superpower on one side of the Taiwan Strait and a peaceful, freedom-loving democracy on the other side of the Strait. Taiwan was never part of China. Even the dictator, Mao Zedong, had no interest in Taiwan. On to your question: I'm not so sure China will attack Taiwan militarily; rather, China will "attack" Taiwan economically and financially. China will implement economic blockades, trade sanctions, or offer incentives to Taiwanese businesses and farmers. The United States will continue to abandon Taiwan in the interests of doing business with China and its burgeoning economy. One side note: The fate of Taiwan's political status remains, and should always remain, with the 23 million people of Taiwan -- not some student in China, the Olympic committee, overseas Chinese, me, you -- and certainly NOT Beijing. I unabashedly support Taiwanese independence, but it's not up to me.
2 :
No. I do not think it will. The most hostile situation betweeen China and Taiwan existed when the old Nationalist (Kuomintang or KMT) Party was still in power on Taiwan. The KMT under Chiang Kai-shek was defeated by the Communists on the mainland in 1949 and ran away over to Taiwan. They themselves considered Taiwan a part of China and claimed they were the legitimate government of all China. Many governments, include that of the US, recognized the Nationists as such and referred to their regime as the Republic of China, not the Republic of Taiwan. It was not until 1972 that the US, together with the UN and governments of most other countries recognized the government in Beijing, and not the one on Taiwan, as the government representing all of China. Those countries that made the 180 degree turn around on the issue, including the US, now got stuck and could not undo one point: since they once (1949-1972) recognized the Nationalist government on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, then Taiwan must have been a part of China. If Taiwan was not a part of China, how could a government on that island be one for the whole China? Now, the US and all those countries have to continue the "one China" policy they once maintained when they recognized the Taiwan government as the Chinese goverment. The difference now is that they recognize the Beijing government as the government of all of China and therefore, the Beiging government has also the legitimacy over Taiwan, which everyone has said is a part of China... There's another development as well. The Chinese Nationists who once ruled Taiwan are now out of power, being booted out by Taiwanese voters who are in the majority and whose families were not among the mainland refugees who came over with the KMT. So the KMT is now getting chummy with Beijing. Why not? The Nationists were dead set against Mainland China because they were in power in Taiwan and a mainland take over would mean they'd be out. But now that they are out anyway, what difference does it make anymore? So now, the main opposition to the mainland are the native Taiwanese, not the KMT. These native elements want independence. They were oppressed under the old Nationalist government on Taiwan before so I guess they do not want any people from the mainlamd to rule over them anymore. A reasonable reaction, of course. However, the native Taiwanese have as much international support and legality to have Taiwan as an independent nation as the native Hawaiians do of returning Hawaii to being an independent country again. In fact, the native Hawaiians have more of a claim than the native Taiwanese. Hawaii was a sovereign nation before 1898 while Taiwan was never one. So now, are we also supporting Hawaiian independence? Of course not and we'd resent any foreign powers that put their noses into our internal affairs regarding Hawaii (or Puerto Rico) also. If the Hawaiians were unhappy about being part of the US, it's our internal affairs between those citizens and the rest of us, not the business of any foreign power outside the US. Ditto with the differences between China and the native Taiwanese. It's their internal business, not ours. By the way, Taiwan has been part of China since 1683 when it was made part of Fujjian Province by the Qing Dynasty. It was upgraded to full provincial status in 1887. The Japanese occupied the island 1905-1945 but the UN and all the world's nations ,including the US, recognized it as a part of China again following Japan's defeat at the end of WWII. It's too late for us to change history!
3 :
I'm sorry. I'm American. What is a "Taiwan"?
4 :
no
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