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submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would “surely be reunified” with Taiwan during his televised New Year’s address, renewing Beijing’s threats to take over the self-ruled island, which it considers its own.

Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to regard the island of 23 million with its high-tech economy as Chinese territory and has been ramping up its threat to achieve that by military force if necessary.

“China will surely be reunified, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose,” Xi said in his annual address, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

China has described Taiwan’s Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections as a choice between war and peace.

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[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 108 points 7 months ago

Taiwan doesn't want to be part of China. Not that hard to understand. Xi is afraid if he relents on this, the people of china will realize he's a shit leader and will also revolt that's the real reason he's taking a hard stance on this. Can't have people realizing they dint have to put up with his shit.

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[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 104 points 7 months ago

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that's basically what they say in every address since forever? I'm not saying there are no tensions but this is not something new or even recent.

[-] randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 31 points 7 months ago

Yes, they've been saying that since forever.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 14 points 7 months ago

They have the sabers so they might as well rattle them.

They know it would risk a war with the US which they know they can't win.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

Tbh I really dont see what could China possibly get with taking Taiwan. It's wouldn't be an easy hold and China would lose so much goodwill and international growth. People don't want to believe it but China is likely to outgrow everyone else by not really doing anything drastic and continueing with the current strategy.

It does feel like a sabre rattle almost every rational way you look at it but it is still so uneasy to read threats like that.

[-] xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 7 months ago

I agree that Taiwan is probably more useful to Xi as a threat to rile up the nationalists than as a legitimate military objective.

I think the real risk, though, is that a mistake or overly aggressive demonstration of strength could very easily force China to commit to a full invasion once it begins to get out of control.

[-] gorysubparbagel@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Massive control over the semiconductor market. There are 2 companies that have basically the entire market TSMC (Taiwan semiconductor) and samsumg.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

That's actually a myth. No way China is taking the factories in tact so the market would just shift even further away from China.

[-] Daxtron2@startrek.website 2 points 7 months ago

Aren't they all rigged for sabotage in the event of an invasion? I feel like I read that at some point but maybe I made it up lol

[-] AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world 90 points 7 months ago

My dude, she doesn't wanna be wit you no more. Let her go.

[-] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 60 points 7 months ago

Fuck the CCP

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 52 points 7 months ago

So, he admits they aren't unified?

It would almost be worth getting disappeared just to ask that question in front of everyone.

[-] itsnotlupus@lemmy.world 26 points 7 months ago

It is time for the mainland to come back into the fold.

I agree the mainland should be allowed to maintain some amount of self rule during the transition.

What would you say, 50 years? Is that enough time to pinky promise?

[-] itsnotlupus@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

I'd say, let's have everyone brainstorm the best way to go about this, and let a thousand flowers bloom!

[-] samokosik@lemmynsfw.com 21 points 7 months ago

When I firstly saw him, I thought he would be just as peaceful as Winnie the Pooh.

[-] Eldritch@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

One two, Pooh is coming for you.

[-] DannyMac@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago
[-] Raz@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

Oh, bother!

[-] rar@discuss.online 2 points 7 months ago
[-] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 7 months ago

Some squares on my bingo card for 2024 are China invades Taiwan and a fungus causes the next global pandemic.

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Methane Clathrate anomaly is the biggie on my bingo card. When the ocean starts weirdly bubbling all of a sudden, then the end is extremely fucking nigh.

[-] queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 7 months ago

Man where have I heard that one before. Surely it'll happen this time guys!

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 3 points 7 months ago

Considering that the amount of active wars seems to have grown recently. I sure hope China is bluffing 😢

[-] Mandy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 7 months ago

Dejavu

I wonder when windows will become dangerous in Taiwan, gotta watch out.

[-] jaschen@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 7 months ago

The only way it will be unified is when it's called Mainland Taiwan.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 10 points 7 months ago

I don't think that sentiment is echoed by Taiwan any more.

Technically you are right, they are much closer to the legitimate government of China than the communist party are but in practice it's not really achievable.

[-] derpgon@programming.dev 2 points 7 months ago
[-] jaschen@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 7 months ago

Also an acceptable name.

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to regard the island of 23 million with its high-tech economy as Chinese territory and has been ramping up its threat to achieve that by military force if necessary.

“China will surely be reunified, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose,” Xi said in his annual address, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

China has described Taiwan’s Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary elections as a choice between war and peace.

Beijing considers the presidential front-runner, William Lai, who currently serves as vice president from the ruling Democratic People’s Party, a “separatist” and has accused him and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen of trying to provoke a Chinese attack on the island.

On Saturday, Chen Binhua, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, called Lai a “destroyer of peace” following a televised debate earlier that day in which Lai defended Taiwan’s right to rule itself as a democracy.

Chen said Lai’s discourse at the debate was “full of confrontational thinking,” adding that the vice president is “the instigator of a potential dangerous war in the Taiwan Strait.”


The original article contains 310 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 36%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] APassenger@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Taiwan didn't split from the mainland. The mainland was conquered in the Civil War and the communists declared themselves victor over everything.

Taiwan was never captured.

[-] ferralcat@monyet.cc 3 points 7 months ago

I mean, it's more complicated than that. Both declared themselves victor. Mainland went communist. The west couldn't live with that so they propped up to authoritarian govt of Taiwan and ignored the communist government for 30 years, funding the murder of hundreds of thousands of dissidents. They couldn't "capture" it without dragging themselves into the US's cold war fever.

It's only been the last 40 years that Taiwan has become democratic, and only the last 10-20 that the parties who wanted unification started to lose elections. Even then they keep wavering back and forth in elections some trying to tie more to China and some trying to break off entirely afaict.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah, yeah, he says lots of things

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this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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