PowerSwitch

Taiwan regards itself as a proudly independent nation with its own flag and elected government.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade chinese territory that needs to be brought under proper control. Tensions appear to be increasing. Many ordinary people in Taiwan are obtaining guns, ammo, and training in order to prepare for the expected invasion by china.

Taiwan is very reliant on imported food and fuel, and a chinese naval blockade is in my view likely.

adam2 wrote: ↑03 Aug 2022, 20:43 Taiwan regards itself as a proudly independent nation with its own flag and elected government.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade chinese territory that needs to be brought under proper control. Tensions appear to be increasing. Many ordinary people in Taiwan are obtaining guns, ammo, and training in order to prepare for the expected invasion by china.

Taiwan is very reliant on imported food and fuel, and a chinese naval blockade is in my view likely.

Taiwan has a large amount of the advanced microchip manufacturing base. It'll be interesting to see if the USA will allow a blockade (at least a lengthy one) to happen. The Ukraine situation is one thing, Taiwan is very much another.

One thing that surprised me - why would Pelosi conduct a trip to Taiwan when senior figures in the US advising against it?

China does seem to be over reacting to the visit by Pelosi, "violating China's sovereignty" What a ridiculous stance.
Many people, including myself, are disgusted by the actions of Russia, but no sensible person would call a visit to the UK by a russian politician to be "violating UK sovereignty"

no sensible person would call a visit to the UK by a russian politician to be "violating UK sovereignty"

.. but Graham Phillips is a traitor and renegade ...

adam2 wrote: ↑03 Aug 2022, 22:36 China does seem to be over reacting to the visit by Pelosi, "violating China's sovereignty" What a ridiculous stance.
Many people, including myself, are disgusted by the actions of Russia, but no sensible person would call a visit to the UK by a russian politician to be "violating UK sovereignty"

That's not the right comparison. China sees Taiwan as a part of China - just currently under the control of a renegade administration. The US, and much of the world 'officially' recognise this 'One China' interpretation. The Whitehouse just yesterday stated in very clear terms their continued respect for the 'One China' policy.

It was well out of order for such a senior US politician to visit this administration, and pledge US support for it no less! A better comparison might be Nicola Sturgeon unilaterally inviting Mikhail Mishustin (Russia Prime Minister) to Scotland where he pledged Russia's support for Sturgeon's independence aims for example.

I seem to recall an Irish-American politician going to Northern Ireland in the 1980s and wanting it's independence from London. De Gaulle went to Quebec and said "Vivre le Quebec libre".

In my opinion China is getting too strong and too close to Taiwan, and Taiwan is probably not worth the loss of life to defend it. Sad to say but probably true. If Taiwanese are serious about independence they need to get nuclear weapons. I think the US has been insisting that TSMC (a semiconductor manufacturer based in Taiwan) build a new cutting edge semiconductor plant in Arizona.

From what I can see, the people of Quebec, Northern Ireland and Scotland are at liberty to exercise their democratic right and declare independence if the people living there so wish. I think Chinese policy is that if that happens in Taiwan they will get invaded. I think you and a few others on this forum are making the mistake of comparing countries with fundamental democratic rights and those with no democratic tradition and regarding them as being morally comparable.

clv101 wrote: ↑03 Aug 2022, 23:15 It was well out of order for such a senior US politician to visit this administration, and pledge US support for it no less!

The US has been politically and economically supporting Taiwan for decades.....
Including selling them $billions of arms......

List of US arms sales to Taiwan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U ... _to_Taiwan

And you think it's 'well out of order' for a senior US politician to pay a visit ????

It is 'well out of order' within the context of the One China policy which the US still officially supports!

clv101 wrote: ↑04 Aug 2022, 12:40 It is 'well out of order' within the context of the One China policy which the US still officially supports!

The US may well 'officially' support the One China policy, but it's obvious by their actions that the current US administration supports Taiwan...
They'd be better to make this official policy, but there are too many economic interests at stake for that to happen...
So..., we're left in a weird 'doublespeak' world...

Two American warships are sailing through the Taiwan straights, so far without incident. Most nations regard these as international waters, open to all.
China however claims them as part of Chinese territory.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62704449