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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping told a former Taiwanese president who supports unification that the countries “belong” together.

“Differences in systems cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to the same country and nation,” Xi said.

“External interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family,” Xi said, in comments reported by Taiwanese media and published by Reuters.

Beijing claims the independent island of Taiwan is a Chinese province and has threatened to use force to achieve unification. China frequently sends warplanes and naval vessels to circle the small island democracy and has been mounting an increasing number of military drills over recent years.

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[-] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago

Because the world has said Taiwan is part of China. That’s why. The world needs to recognize Taiwan as its own nation. Everyone wanted that cheap labor in China and ignored Taiwan.

[-] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Unfortunately, the main reason the world won't recognize Taiwan as its own nation is because it doesn't have UN status as a nation. And the only way to get status as a nation is get all 5 votes from the UN Security Council. China is on the UN Security Council.

The US is providing military and money to help defend Taiwan from China, but at the same time does not recognize them as independent from China. The whole one-vote veto in the UN is fucking stupid.

[-] mohammed_alibi@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

The irony is that Taiwan once held that UN security-council seat. I do believe the people of China needs to be represented in the UN, but doing so at the cost of Taiwanese people's representation completely defeats the purpose of having a UN in the first place.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago

That sweet cheap labor tho ...

[-] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee -3 points 4 months ago

That’s been the problem. We built a hostile nation by using cheap labor, giving them technology and now act surprised when they turn aggressive. American companies have some weird notion that countries will advanced pass being cheaper labor and will be actively competing against you

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

That notion has always been just a nice fantasy that lets decision makers, who have any thoughts beyond maximizing profit, to lay those thoughts to rest and proceed with maximizing profits. The ones that never had those thoughts didn't need this tool. Of course that's also been sold to the rest of us, non-decisionmakers, so we don't get in the way of that profit maximization.

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago

Taiwanese people don’t want the island to be recognized as its own nation though. They benefit from close economic relations with the mainland and so are happy to maintain the status quo. The majority voted against pro independence candidates in recent elections, something this article fails to mention. That of course doesn’t mean Taiwanese people trust the mainland nor do they want to be politically integrated into it. However the situation is more nuanced than many western media outlets would have you believe.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Being reported as Chinese propaganda, but as usual the truth seems to be more nuanced than that...

I will admit, I am not Chinese and my understanding of the deeper issues is imperfect at best, but according to here:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/taiwan/taiwan-already-independent

The Taiwanese people DEFINITELY do not want Unification, but at the same time, they see an official declaration of statehood as superfluous.

It's not so much that they don't WANT independence, it's that, as far as they see it, they already ARE independent, no declaration necessary.

[-] mohammed_alibi@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Its nice to have something official and have recognition from the rest of the world and to be able to participate in UN or WHO and as "Taiwan" or even "ROC" instead of "Chinese Taipei" in sport contests.

But there is always a threat of war from China if Taiwan does the above. So no one wants to take that risk and be the one that starts the war, possibly WW3.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Oh, I agree, but I can also see the argument of "We're already independent!" If it were ME, I would want an official designation from the UN, but like you say, it may be more trouble than it's worth.

[-] TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

While we sound rabidly pro-Taiwanese, the US diplomatic position on the PRC/ROC is some wild Cold War type shit. Technically, we recognize both claims as claims that both organizations have made and that both organizations have the right to make those claims. Vague as vague can get. The State Department was seriously like "we agree to disagree... with ourselves."

this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
194 points (93.7% liked)

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