09-10-2020, 04:24 PM
(09-10-2020, 03:01 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ** 10-Sep-2020 World View: China and Taiwan
Guest Wrote:> Chinese fighter jets buzz Taiwan for a second day as tensions rise
> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwa...SKBN2610HG
It was not so long ago that the official CCP position was that the
status quo should be maintained, and sooner or later the Taiwan
people would want to become part of China, because China is so
wonderful. The model, according to this fantasy, was Hong Kong and
the "one nation, two systems" arrangement.
That's now completely out the window. No one seriously believes that
the Taiwanese people will ever voluntary accept union with China.
For the CCP, that means that there's no choice: It will be necessary
to annex Taiwan through war. At this point, they may even have a day
already planned. And with China becoming visibly more belligerent and
nationalistic every day, that day may not be far off.
So Chinese jets buzzing Taiwan may just be to annoy the Taiwanese, or
it may be testing Taiwan's defenses in preparation for an imminent
war.
A de facto independent Taiwan indicates that the People's Republic of China (PRC) can behave itself, which is some protection for the image of the PRC. Figure that an invasion of Taiwan would practically compel Japan to become a military superpower, perhaps creating a "Tokyo-Manila-Jakarta Axis" or some other variant. Canberra? New Delhi?
At this point the surest way in which to get into trouble with China is to mistreat ethnic Chinese in a diaspora that contains most of the Pacific basin.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
