matchman wrote:nedleeds wrote:I agree. We'll see if we get a moderate democrat regime with standard hawk'ish tendencies. Or if we get more of the socialist arm of the dems which aligns with PRC values of massive speech suppression, huge reliance on the government for information, and the current "progressive" lefts authoritarian bent with respect to covid.
There might be a lingering bitterness from the communists towards Taiwan's complete and leading success in handling covid. I kind of hope Taiwan just lets it go, and stops opining for WHO membership. The world understands why PRC did what it did with respect to suppressing information, and allowing outbound travel during US holiday and CNY. Nobody with a brain thinks they didn't know there was P2P transmission in 2019.
I would like to share PRC's point of view and why they are so obsessed to conquer Taiwan.
To CCP, their legitamacy to rule such a huge country based on the following:
1) To be the successor of ROC （although they fight in civil war nearly 70 years ago)
2) Claim to be the leader to fight against Imperialist Japan in WW2 ( actually CCP hides behind the battleground and develop their territory instead of fighting the Japanese army, leaving Chiang to fight)
3) To lead the Chinese people to turn away from poor (Hmm really arguable but do not want to elaborate here)
4) Has the mission to re-unite China as one country, by getting back Hong Kong, Macau and gradually Taiwan.
(2 out of 3 tasks complete, so what next then? What CCP won't tell you is how much land they lost to Soviet Union in the northern border, but dare you ask them about this?)
But one may argue their ambition to "conquer/invade" Taiwan / ROC, CCP will tell you that they are just claiming the "lost island".
1) I get it. Asking PRC, who are the most image conscious regime outside of Islamic Theocracies in the world to just 'get over it' is a non-starter. This is the regime that cancels actors for even remotely questioning any government policy, the regime who bans Rockets games for an employee tweet. They are a bunch of sensitive fragile ego clowns.
2) Yes. Most people don't know the Chinese history of WWII very well. CKS took the brunt of the Japanese assault leaving him very weak after the war. Additionally the war devastated the common people, making them ripe for the allure of communism.
3) This is why I think conflict is unlikely, it's not 1983 when Taiwan's economy was booming and their manufacturing capacity was greater than all of mainland China. "臺灣奇蹟" was very embarrassing for PRC. Also remember in the 70s (71?) the United Nations stopped recognizing ROC/Taiwan. That was another big point of shame for PRC. ROC is no longer recognized formally in hardly anything as PRC influence has grown, United Nations, WHO, competing as 'Chinese Taipei' in Olympics so Xi isn't offended, etc.
4) 'One China' has lasted since 1992. I think Taiwan can be argued is a little different than HK or Macau
- it's larger and further away geographically then HK
- it was never ruled by a European power (the Dutch briefly in the 1600s)
- it was ruled by Japan for significant time (the Japanese ruled for 50 years from 1895-1945)
- KMT take over was bloody and controversial as many 'Formosans' prospered under Japan rule
- it was it's own manufacturing powerhouse (HK obviously a financial powerhouse)
- there are native Taiwanese, a small minority but they are a distinct indigenous people
A take over of Taiwan by PRC could mean the death of so much Chinese culture pre-PRC. Traditional Chinese writing, art, and all the history the communists tried to destroy that was brought to Formosa. I'm biased, I love Taiwan, the people, the freedom, their courage in the face of a horrific regime that is responsible for more murders than WWII deaths.
