Cool, now why don’t you make a list of countries that recognize Taiwan’s independence?
“Recognize” carries that implication. Empty posturing is foolish, we may all agree. Empty posturing that avoids bloodshed is another matter all together.
Trump supporters elected a “tough guy”. Expect more of this nonsense.
There is no such promise. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act is not a defense pact and there is no US commitment to defend Taiwan in the event of attack.
Many people are essentially advocating, “We shouldn’t tell the Emperor (in this instance, China) that he has no clothes on.” IOW, people are saying that Taiwan is for all intents and purposes a de facto country of its own, but for the sake of diplomatic niceties it should be pretended that it isn’t.
I thought Taiwan’s claim was that it was the ;legitimate Government of all of China. Hence the name, Republic of China on Taiwan.
Why not? Queen Elizabeth has done it.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/08/us/queen-elizabeth-visiting-kentucky-horse-farms.html
A lot of people have forgotten that Taiwan is ALREADY independent. The government that is currently sitting in Taipei is the legitimate government of all of China.
Just because the Communist rebels have been in power over the mainland for a long time doesn’t mean that their government is legitimate. Unfortunately, most governments around the world have become soft-headed and cowardly on this issue.
Yes, it’s amazing what you can get away with when you have nukes.
It is, but at this point, that’s largely because the Chinese government are assholes. There’s a substantial group of Taiwanese, including the current Taiwanese government, who support a two-China government, but that throws the PRC into fits, so everybody’s forced to pretend that China and Taiwan are just one country because people don’t want to piss the Chinese off.
Yes, that’s the other farcical claim in the longstanding dispute. Taiwan claims all of China (although, of course, this is those diplomatic-speak things whereby everyone knows it’s fake) under the ROC. Which is a claim that should have been given up in the 1950s.
Again, 99.999% of Taiwanese people don’t believe or assert that claim in sincerity, and I’m not sure the current DPP government even pays the lip service to it anymore.
China drew an aggressive line, Trump took a step across it, and the Chinese just sputtered in response. Small but clear win for Trump.
Obama did something similar in meeting repeatedly with the Dalai Lama, resisting China’s attempt to set the terms for US engagement with a third party. Indeed, the Chinese reaction was even angrier about those.
Interestingly, Trump taking the call also seems to fit Scott Adams’ thesis about the new CEO needing to make small but visible changes right away.
Dictator=/= government or countries you don’t currently like.
Time, for better or worse, has a way of creating its own legitimacy. The Kuomintang wasn’t really a fully elected government when it fled to Taiwan, and the party itself has mostly dropped this claim. No country recognizes the Republic of South Vietnam anymore. No country that recognizes Taiwan as the legitimate government of China does so on any ideological or principalled basis. They are just given “bribes”/financial incentives to do so from Taiwan, but take a big hit in losing out on any PRC financial assistance and trade deals. No country is willing to economcally hobble itself for some principalled cause that has no chance of prevailing.
Even if the PRC is overthrown, the Kuomintang almost certainly isn’t going to be the leading contender on the Mainland for picking up the pieces.
Taiwan doesn’t claim it’s an independent country separate from China. The official position of both governments (the one in Beijing and the one in Taipei) is that China is one country, which includes Taiwan, and that their government is the sole legitimate government for the entire country.
Most countries in the world recognize the Beijing government. A handful still recognize the Taipei government. Nobody officially recognizes both governments.
Really? China’s response to this has been that Trump is inexperienced and fell to Taiwanese trickery. There was also a not too subtle warning to Trump that he had better not follow through on this. I don’t see how Trump came out of this looking good.
They have to maintain it as at least an official position. The mainland government has firmly declared that if Taiwan declares itself a separate country, the mainland government will respond by invading. So you have the ironic situation that Taiwan has to deny its de jure independence in order to maintain its de facto independence.
Are you saying the United States should be prepared to fight a war with China? If not, then we’re the ones who are bluffing.
Cross straits trade is currently about 200 Bn USD per annum. I very seriously doubt any sensible Taiwanese wishes to end the current relationship and declare independence with its certainty of war.
Which country is Taiwan’s largest trading partner? Which ‘country’ is it’s second largest? I’ll let you all do the Googling.
This is all my uninformed opinion.
The bluff isn’t there for the benefit of the US or the Chinese government. I’m sure the Chinese government wishes the Taiwan issue would just go away. They certainly don’t want to go to war over this.
The bluff is there because it provides enough cover to allow the Communist Party to placate the extreme hardliners in China, who represent a very real threat to China’s stability. If we force the bluff, China will have to choose between suppressing the hardliners (which may not work, and will threaten the stability of the entire country) or taking aggressive action against Taiwan to keep them happy (obviously a disaster).
The hardliners will not let Taiwan go, and the hardliners represent an existential risk to China as an organized political entity. A bit of ambiguity has been enough to keep this disaster from playing out as Taiwan’s relationship evolves.
Hence why China isn’t freaking out. They NEED to preserve this bluff. If the populace gets riled up about this, it’s going to be very bad situation for everyone.
Choosing to blame the Taiwanese demonstrates a desire to avoid characterizing the incident as a conflict with the US. It’s essentially a gesture of respect. ,