Everybody knows about the backstory, there was a civil war, KMT fled to Taiwan creating two Chinas sort of, maybe, neither recognises the other, whole thing. ROC (Taiwan) ended up transitioning from military rule to a multi-party democracy, while the PRC (mainland China) didn’t do that (they did reform economically, “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and all that, but still a one-party state, not a multi-party democracy). The status quo right now is that Taiwan is in the grey area of statehood where they function pretty much independently but aren’t properly recognised, and both sides of the strait are feeling pretty tense right now.
Taiwan’s stance on the issue is that they would like to remain politically and economically independent of mainland China, retaining their multi-party democracy, political connections to its allies, economic trade connections, etc. Also, a majority of the people in Taiwan do not support reunification with China.
China’s stance on the issue is that Taiwan should be reunified with the mainland at all costs, ideally peacefully, but war is not ruled out. They argue that Taiwan was unfairly separated from the mainland by imperial powers in their “century of humiliation”. Strategically, taking Taiwan would be beneficial to China as they would have better control of the sea.
Is it even possible for both sides to agree to a peaceful solution? Personally, I can only see two ways this could go about that has the consent of both parties. One, a reformist leader takes power in the mainland and gives up on Taiwan, and the two exist as separate independent nations. Or two, the mainland gets a super-reformist leader that transitions the mainland to a multi-party democracy, and maybe then reunification could be on the table, with Taiwan keeping an autonomous status given the large cultural difference (similar to Hong Kong or Macau’s current status). Both options are, unfortunately, very unlikely to occur in the near future.
A third option (?) would be a pseudo-unification, where Taiwan remains as a separate country, but there can be free movement of people between the mainland and Taiwan, free trade, that sort of stuff (sort of like the EU? Maybe?). Not sure if the PRC would accept that.
What are your thoughts on a peaceful solution to the crisis that both sides could agree on?
No, eliminating the safe, friction-free option of status quo shows that 4% want to officially seek independence.
The majority wants to maintain the status quo without moving in either direction. A supermajority wants to maintain the status quo while moving in one direction or the other. But all of their voices are ignored by chauvinistic Westerners who want to ignore what they want and force the issue because that’s what they want, and the actual popular will can easily be written off and disregarded with these nonsense excuses like “they only say that because they’re being influenced by the existing material conditions” and “if we ignore 95% of the responses, people actually agree with me.”
As compared to 1% wanting unification.
Who is doing this? Name people actively trying to encourage this.
Do you think people answer polls like this with no understanding or regard of actual geopolitical reality, or something? Do you think the reality on the floor is of no relevance to them? Material conditions suddenly have no relevance, do they?
Who fucking cares! We’re talking about 4% vs 1%! What about what everybody else wants??
Skavau@piefed.social, for starters.
No, what I think is that actual geopolitical reality is a relevant factor that shouldn’t just be arbitrarily disregarded, as you seem to want. Incorporating material conditions into your poll response is not grounds for it being thrown out, jfc.
I also think the drastic difference between “status quo now, independence later” and “status quo now, unification later” also matters heavily too.
Quote me. Quote me where I said they should seek independence right now.
When did I say the poll should be “thrown out”? I’m just giving my reading of it.
Easy:
Done.
Easy:
Done.
Where was that “right now” there?
How is the way I read a poll means I am trying to tell Taiwan what to do?
See above.
Also, I’m just a random person. Who of note, or of influence is trying to encourage this?
Because “the way you read the poll” is by throwing out the overwhelming majority of responses and focusing exclusively on the people who agree with your position.
Again, I’m giving you my opinion. I’m not saying Taiwan should immediately declare independence (it would be obviously very dangerous for them to do this). I’m just saying that it seems likely to me that if China were to back-off, that Taiwan would very quickly officially declare independence and rebrand.
And again: I’m just a random person. Who of note, or of influence is trying to encourage this?
That’s not what the polls show and I don’t see how that’s relevant regardless. If space aliens attacked, maybe Taiwan would seek unification with China for mutual protection. But there aren’t any space aliens so who gives a shit? That’s not the world we live in. The polls are based on the world that actually exists, as they should be.
Plenty of people in the US ruling class, but I don’t see how that’s relevant. I’m criticizing your position.