Xi warns Taiwan will face 'punishment of history' for separatism

[ExpatOilWorker]

On 3/21/2018 at 7:25 PM, Jools said:

China would claim Hawaii if not nipped in the bud. They specialize in re-writing history.

Not very likely, but China could dominate Australia, politically and economically, 50-100 years from now.

[CharlesSwann]

10 minutes ago, mike324 said:

I agree Taiwan should return all the treasures in exchange for being able to declare indepedence. But I'm sure China won't want that too, China wants it all.

You're probably right, but if China gets their treasure back they will have less moral justification for their aggressive stance, and they may just be placated enough to leave Taiwan be, in de facto independence.

 

As it is, keeping the booty surely delegitimises Taiwan's case for independence completely.

[Kiwiken]

19 hours ago, tonbridgebrit said:

Hello.
Okay, about Japan beating China in a war, and taking Taiwan. Now, I am criticising/condemning Japan for taking Taiwan after that war. Do you feel the same way ? Now, if we don't say that Japan was wrong when doing this, well, we're going to end up saying that China, today, is entitled to fight wars, try and win, and grab islands and land.
Now, that would be absurd, right ?  
About how Japan handed Taiwan to the US, and how Washington handed Taiwan to the locals and not to China. I'm saying that Washington should have handed Taiwan back to China. And Taiwan was part of the Republic of China, so was large parts of mainland China part of ROC, after 1945. So, it was okay for the Communists to take parts of the ROC in mainland China, but it's not okay for them to take the bit of the ROC that's on the island of Taiwan ?  

You're right, Taiwan is a de facto independent state. Correct, China has no power in Taiwan. Beijing's attitude to Taiwan is simple, "don't declare independence, and you won't be attacked".

Do you really feel that Beijing's attitude is outrageous ? Beijing fought a civil war against the Nationalists, Beijing is simply claiming ownership of all land that was part of China prior to 1949. If there had of been a group of Nationalists trapped in Shanghai after 1949, well, Beijing would have removed them.


And I notice that those who are against Beijing simply don't mention the massive economic benefits that Taiwan gets from China. Taiwan's biggest export partner is China, and Taiwan imports more from China than any other place, and Taiwan rakes in good tourism revenue from China.

Okay, back to the issue of people being allowed to declare independence. See, whatever country we're talking about does NOT actually have to give whatever people "the right to declare independence".  So, in America, if California wants to become independent, even if most people actually want it, well, the US government certainly does have the right to not allow California to break away. It's not a case of "if that area is very different to the rest of the country, then, they are allowed to break away". You're only allowed to break away IF the central government allows you to do it.

I wonder as you seem to support the forced reunification of Taiwan with Mainland China. Do you then support the takeover of Tibet by China even though it had been independent.

Therefore if both those are legitimate reasons to use armed force. Why then could China not invade Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand as those people are also of ethnic Chinese extraction? Sure too the Phillipines as they are mixed, And Singapore too? Some Say the Polynesian peoples originated in China so perhaps China would be justified in Annexing many pacific Nations too. Legitimately of course.

Personally I would accept unification of China and Taiwan only if the Taiwanese majority voted for it.

Hong Kong was never given that choice and every year China rolls back the freedoms of that small state.

China's biggest threat is freedom of expression and at the moment that is what Taiwan represents to them

[tonbridgebrit]

4 hours ago, Kiwiken said:

I wonder as you seem to support the forced reunification of Taiwan with Mainland China. Do you then support the takeover of Tibet by China even though it had been independent.

Therefore if both those are legitimate reasons to use armed force. Why then could China not invade Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand as those people are also of ethnic Chinese extraction? Sure too the Phillipines as they are mixed, And Singapore too? Some Say the Polynesian peoples originated in China so perhaps China would be justified in Annexing many pacific Nations too. Legitimately of course.

Personally I would accept unification of China and Taiwan only if the Taiwanese majority voted for it.

Hong Kong was never given that choice and every year China rolls back the freedoms of that small state.

China's biggest threat is freedom of expression and at the moment that is what Taiwan represents to them

Hello there.
I certainly do not support the forced reunification of Taiwan with mainland China. I support the present situation that we see. As in, Taiwan is a de facto independent state, it does not have a seat at the UN, and it is (at present) not making a declaration of independence. Yes, I support the present situation. Beijing is not interested in attacking Taiwan, as long as Taiwan does not declare independence, yes, I support this.

You've raised the issue of Tibet. Okay, I put under here, the wikipedia link regarding Tibet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet#Qing_dynasty

Okay, that article seems to indicate that Tibet was heavily connected to China during the 1700s, long before 1950.


Now, what about China and it's links with Thailand, Vietnam, etc ?  Beijing is claiming sovereignty, or whatever you want to call it, over Tibet and Taiwan. Beijing is certainly not claiming that Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc are part of China.  And indeed, these areas never have been part of China. 


Yes, if most people in Taiwan want reunification with mainland China, well, let them have it. If they don't, let's continue with the present situation. And about Hong Kong. Britain fought a war, won the war(s) and took Hong Kong. It was agreed in 1898 that the mainland bit of the British colony of Hong Kong would be going back to China in 1997. And I think the British government was correct, in the early 1980s, to agree handing over the entire colony to China in 1997.