Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.
He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday.
He also said Taiwan would never back down in the face of intimidation from China, which has long claimed the island as its own.
China responded by saying, “Taiwan independence is a dead end”.
“Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the daily press briefing on Monday afternoon.
My favorite part of China saying Taiwan isn’t a country is where we say we agree but still sell Taiwan hundreds of fighter jets and missiles.
we == ?
Countries toeing the line to allow CCP China to save face, while also selling defense equipment to Taiwan.
Why should we toe the line though? Fuck then.
As of a few years ago at least, most Taiwanese people were in favour of keeping relations as they are and neither expanding nor severing Chinese relations from status quo. They already operate as their own country, so a push towards further separation is mostly only symbolic anyway and they don’t want to provoke China and their current peace for a symbolic gesture. I think that by treating Taiwan as its own country but not identifying it as such, we are acting as most Taiwanese wish.
Because the policy of deliberate ambiguity is consistent with what Taiwanese people want and has successfully maintained peace for over 40 years while still allowing Taiwan to be functionally independent.
But, you know, who cares about peace and prosperity for ordinary people when our leaders could score a couple political points against their leaders, amirite?
Guess OP own Lockheed Martin shares or something
Hey if Western Taiwan wants fighter jets and missiles they have to learn to be nicer.
Taiwanese person here. We need to get a special VISA to go to China. Even their immigration thinks we are independent.
I like how they say Taiwan Independence is a dead end.
Taiwan is already independent. China wants to undo that, but they make sure to word it as if Taiwan is a rebelling State instead.
There is No War in Ba Sing Se.
They treat Taiwan that way because the Chinese civil war was never fully resolved. The US interfered to prevent the communists from taking Taiwan and ousting Chiang Kai-shek’s fascist KMT. As such, the CPC sees persistent US support for Taiwanese independence as an implicit threat against their sovereignty.
Taiwanese living in Taiwan here. We have been removing Chiang Kai Shek monuments from everywhere because he doesn’t represent Taiwan anymore. We are not old China. We are Taiwan.
Sure but the tensions between China and the US never went away. You may not have Chiang Kai Shek seeking US support in order to invade the mainland. That much is true. However, the US is still very much interested in keeping Taiwan within its sphere of influence as part of a militaristic strategy of containment aimed at China.
I don’t think the US state department cares much for the welfare of Taiwanese people in all of this. If you have any doubts about how the US operates all you have to do is look at its relationship with Israel today.
Honestly, Japan and South Korea will be like Estonia with Ukraine.
Xi isn’t planning on stopping in Taiwan. They are already aiming for the countries in the south China seas and Korea and Japan.
It’s not a Taiwan problem. It’s a global problem.
Then I’m not sure you know much about the motivations of Xi, the CPC, or the US for that matter. Since the 80s both sides only real interest has been economic growth. The US was fine with Chinas growth for decades as long as they provide the US a source of cheap labor. However now, China’s economy is actually larger than the US’s in terms of purchase power parity. If left unchecked China would become the economic center of the world without firing a single shot.
The US is clearly worried about losing it’s economic dominance as the worlds only superpower. That’s why it’s made contingency plans for how to confront China militarily. If they tried to subdue China through an invasion it wouldn’t work. China is a nuclear power and that would spell the end of the world. What they could do instead is use islands off the coast of China to enforce a naval blockade of the mainland. From South Korea, to Japan including Okinawa, to the Philippines the US is stationing military assets all the way down the coast. Taiwan would serve as the linch pin to that plan.
Again I have to repeat the US is not the defender of liberal democracy that they claim to be. The people of Taiwan should be clear eyed about that.
I don’t know much about the internal politics of Taiwan but I think playing the diplomatic game strategically is pretty crucial here. If the world has to take sides, I’m afraid for Taiwan.
Inb4 tankies explain why it’s morally correct to disappear/murder anyone asking for what KKKhina isn’t offering at will.
Maybe Lai should figure out his own legislature first 🤷
Feels like he’s trying to deflect away from the absolute fuckfest that his legislature has become by pointing at a bogeyman. After ,all, how dare a country exercise overflight in a military aircraft over a foreign EEZ.
.ml detected, opinion rejected.
Lai is objectively fucked in his own legislature. Both the KMT and TPP are opposed to the DPP (enough to set aside their own differences)… And they hold the majority in the legislature.
I don’t understand how that article relates to Taiwan at all. It seems like a dispute between China and Australia.
He’s deflecting on a fucking non-issue because he doesn’t want to admit that his policy of antagonizing China isn’t working and the opposition (KMT+TPP) have increasing power.
You can’t see why a plane launching flares in the path of a helicopter in international waters is problematic?
How much does Pooh bear pay you or are you just a zinglet doing this shit for free?
