Is Taiwan a country?

[jj]

Jedi Knight as quoted by Drifterman:

Jedi Knight originally posted:
I find the Chinese bullying of Taiwan offensive. I say that because China is a communist nation-state, a country of darkness while Taiwan is a country of light.

----

Would someone like to recite the history of the KMT here for us?

Don't take this as support for the PRC, either, thank you.

How about a book titled: A tale of two warlords and two sisters?

 

[jj]

If it has a flag, its a country. No flag - no country. Its as simple as that.

(apologies to Eddie Izzard)

Ohio is a country!

Oh, man. Dennis the Menace, eat your heart out!

 

[Drifterman]

How about a book titled: A tale of two warlords and two sisters?

For an interesting narrative history, you could try Sterling Seagrave's "The Soong Dynasty."

Seagrave's a good writer, but he does appear to get a little breathless at times.

 

[JAR]

Taiwan is its own country. I don't know why maps continue to include it as part of China. Some times people are stupid.

 

[Jon_in_london]

Taiwan is its own country. I don't know why maps continue to include it as part of China. Some times people are stupid.

Not stupid- just valuing profits over ethics ie. Greedy.
Those 'stupid' people are all our respective governments.

 

[reprise]

One reason why Australia will not seek UN approval to send police and peace-keepers to the Solomon Islands is because the Solomon Islands' recognition of the sovereignty of Taiwan makes it extremely likely that China would use its veto to defeat any peace-keeping proposal.

 

[Underemployed]

I'm an Englishman who lived in Taiwan for a year and a half.

Taiwan is definitely it's own country.

It is also The Republic of China.

During the Olympics, it might be Chinese Taipei.

Ahh, Taiwan...Land of contrasts...

Certainly nobody there is ruled by the Chinese government, though of course they are hugely influenced by it.

Much (if not most) of the western worlds information systems rely on factories and companies in, or owned by, Taiwanese. All they need are a few nukes and China can forget any ambitions of bringing Taiwan back into the fold, which would put a huge smile on my face.

 

[Drifterman]

I would not be surprised if Taiwan could field nuclear weapons very quickly, in the event that the US ended its military support.

 

[DialecticMaterialist]

Taiwan is a country. It has no government connection to the People's Republic of China. None.

It is not only a country in name only. But that's like saying the Soviet Reforms weren't capitalistic. It's amazing how easily some people trick themselves with language...

In any event it's quite obvious Taiwan is a sovereign nation and should be recognised as such.

 

[ceo_esq]

The following website offers a "synopsis of the impact of international agreements on the legal status of Taiwan":

http://www.taiwandocuments.org/summary.htm

It draws the following conclusions:

Japan held undisputed sovereignty over Formosa from 1895 to 1945. After Japan's defeat in war in 1945, Formosa's surrender was accepted and the island occupied by representatives of Chiang Kai-shek, as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the China Theatre. In 1951, Japan renounced sovereignty over the island without making provision for a transfer of sovereignty. The Treaty of Peace in which Japan renounced sovereignty over Formosa declared Japan's commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter, which includes a commitment to self-determination of peoples and which implicitly transferred sovereignty over the island to her inhabitants. In the absence of formal agreements regarding sovereignty over territory, current international law favours self-determination as the means of establishing sovereignty. No other agreement since the 1951 Treaty has clarified the issue of sovereignty over Formosa. Constitutional reforms in the Republic of China in the 1990s transformed the regime on Formosa from an occupation government into a democratic government representative of the will of the people of Formosa. The only state which currently disputes the Formosan people's sovereignty over the island is the People's Republic of China, a state which has never held possession or title to the island and whose leadership prior to 1943 supported the "national liberation struggle" on the island.

 

[PygmyPlaidGiraffe]

Bush says he opposes Taiwan independence. Meanwhile...

Washington is negotiating a deal to sell missiles and other weapons systems worth $18bn to the island - which China regards as a renegade province.

China warns that Beijing may attack Taiwan by 2008 if President Chen Shui-bian pursues his plans for constitutional change.

 

[Rob Lister]

Taiwan will never be a truly soverign nation so long as it gives a rats as$ what other soverign nations -- China and U.S. especially -- think regarding it being a soverign nation.

Grow some nads for pete's sake.

 

[sorgoth]

If the people of a territory act as if that territory is a country, then it is one.

In my opinion, anyway...

 

[Hutch]

Grow some nads for pete's sake.

Spoken like a man who'll never get within 10,000 miles of any fighting that might occur there....or perhaps you have a Rush Limbaugh deferment...

Look, people, Taiwan will NEVER be recognized as a soverign nation until and unless Mainland China agrees to it. No one will risk war, neither the Chinese (who do not yet have the military capability to mount and sustain an attack) or the US/Japan (who are not equipped or manned to fight a full-scale war against China in Taiwan.

For the time being, the best we can hope for is the status quo---a quasi-independent Island that everybody calls part of China but is operating as an Independent state.

Time, as always, will tell...maybe China will move closer to an open society, perhaps the economic ties between the two (which are already well-established) will bind them tightly in all but the formal political sense, maybe Chinese propaganda will succeed and the Taiwanese will willingly join China....and then again, anybody for WW III?

And maybe the horse will sing.....

 

[Hutch]

If the people of a territory act as if that territory is a country, then it is one.

In my opinion, anyway...

...And the Confederate States of America, the Kurds of Turkey and Iran, and Quebec thank you for your opinion..

 

[Mr Manifesto]

OK, as you can probably guess, this is an issue of great importance where I live.

So I ask all here: Is Taiwan a country, or a province of China?

Should the international community support the Taiwanese Democratic People's Party (DPP) in its efforts to introduce a referendum on declaring independence from China?

Or should the rest of the world ignore Taiwan's precarious position, and hope that China doesn't make good on its threat to wash Taiwan in blood should it ever declare itself independent.

Does capitalist lust at the thought of access China's (potentially) huge market outweigh love of the democratic principle? Is kow-towing to the Dragon more important than the right of the Taiwanese people to be fully accepted members of the international community?

Does anyone find Chinese bullying offensive?

I've always said f*** China. That's a country that really needs to be taken to task for human rights violations. From Laogai camps to Tianamen (apoligies for the spelling) the current regime are nothing but scum. Yet not a peep about sanctions, or anything. The G7 nations you mention are courting the country for trade. Money speaks louder than blood.

 

[richardm]

Re: Re: Is Taiwan a country?

Yet not a peep about sanctions, or anything. The G7 nations you mention are courting the country for trade. Money speaks louder than blood.

But China is so huge and (I think) self-sufficient. Realistically, what difference could sanctions make?

The best bet is to continue the steady drip-drip-drip of capitalism, and sweep the regime from power that way - and hope another Tiananmen Square doesn't happen. But things are moving slowly in the right direction. Society is changing. As was pointed out above, so long as Taiwan doesn't do anything to precipitate trouble, things look like they might work out in the end.