Thoughts?

Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn’t it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?

  • stickly@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Their president reneged it like 30+ years ago but that doesn’t mean much because it’s basically baked into their constitution. Changing the constitution to reflect their real borders would require triggering a vote and a bunch of formal processes that would absolutely instigate a conflict with the PRC.

    Nobody wants that, including the voting population. Thus you see a milquetoast shuffling between independence and reunification parties in order to maintain the status quo (independence for all practical purposes) without being too radical for Beijing. In terms of polling:

    • 48.9% are pro-[eventual]-independence
    • 11.8% are pro-unification
    • 26.9% want status quo

    And when forced out of status quo, independence support jumps to out 60%. But for now they’re caught in a Catch-22 that allows the PRC to spit out this propaganda that people gobble up.

    • sik0fewl@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      Good background, thanks. Ya, catch 22 is a good way to put it… It makes it tough for other countries to recognize both PRC and ROC without offending PRC.