The problem, of course, is that the people of Taiwan don’t want to be part of China, and have been their own sovereign nation for 74 years. Yes, they had a very problematic start, but they are now a firmly established democratic nation of their own.

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem, of course, is that you've come wading into an argument with absolutely no evidence. Here are the actual opinions of the citizens of the Republic of China:

As you can see, the most popular options are "Decide later" and "Decide never". "Independence now!" as a choice has never quite beaten "No response".

Nor is that really surprising - independence as a political project only appeared in the mainstream in any capacity with the founding of the DPP (Democratic Prograssive Party) in 1986. For the first 37 years, the island was controlled exclusively by the KMT (Kuomintang) as a one-party military dictatorship that not only considered itself part of China, but the rightful rulers of the whole of China! Here's the insignia of the RoC Marine Corps, showing the full extent of the territories claimed by the Republic of China:

As you can see, it not only includes the mainland but large areas of several neighbouring states including almost the whole of Mongolia. The KMT old guard, as much as remain in politics anyway, are actually furious about the idea of claiming independence, because it would mean renouncing the whole rest of China!

[–] hangdognail@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And yet, using your own chart, unification with the mainland seems to be quite unpopular. Why would a nation that had its own problems with dictatorships want to go back to having Winnie the Pooh as President for life?

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firstly, there is only a question of 'unify or declare independence' because of continuous pressure from the US Empire for the last half century. Continuing the status quo benefits all parties because the RoC's largest trading partner is the PRC (obviously, because it's a country of 1.8 billion people that is literally right offshore) and gradually increasing integration was the obvious natural course.

Until the US, which still maintains an official One-China policy, decided it needed another way to attack China. But maybe, China really might just smash its way in by force... any day now!

If events had unfolded based on normal political and economic trends, Taipei would probably have ended up as an autonomous province under the PRC, similar to Hong Kong or Macau, because the Chinese central government is comparatively hands-off and local governments are mostly allowed to do their own thing - a policy started under Mao called (I love Chinese policy names) Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom, Let One Hundred Schools of Thought Contend.

Oh, but of course you thought the entire Chinese population was controlled directly by Xi Jinping like units in an RTS, didn't you? Because you're a know-nothing racist fuckwit - or not, after all, it's okay to say that asian people are yellow-skinned and beady-eyed if they're enemies of the US! Xi is going to finish his third term, see out the opening stages of the Belt and Road Initiative, then retire like every other Chinese President and foreigners with full bellies and too much time on their hands will cope and seethe that the next one is also a horrible dictator (until that one retires too).

[–] hangdognail@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I have nothing but love for the people of China. I have a problem with the dictator who disappears people who openly question him, and has put at least a million of his own people in concentration camps. Oh, and Mao was a fucking monster who killed more of his own people than any imperialist westerner did.

I really hope they’re paying you well to shill for Pooh Bear.

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firstly,

You're an ignorant westerner whose entire knowledge consists of fifteen seconds a day of headlines drip-fed by your state-controlled media, and the link you sling at me is from fucking Wikipedia.

In short: you are wrong. The Empire's media lies. The '1 million' number is based on eight (8) interviews conducted by virulent German christofascist shitstain Adrian Zenz.

Here's a vlog by a guy who actually went to Xinjiang and talked to people there. Plenty of other videos on his channel too.

The program in question, which took place in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was a deradicalization campaign against islamic extremists funded by the west, who had been committing multiple terror attacks every year. People taken in were given education and warned about the dangers of Islamic extremism, especially the (foreign to Xinjiang) Wahabbi form of Islam exported by Saudi Arabia with the help of the US. Who, by the way, deradicalizes Uyghurs by blowing them up. After conducting the most humane and effective deradicalization program ever, the western backed extremists are gone and even western media has to grudgingly admit the whole thing is over (in the most loaded language possible):

The Maoist uprising against the landlords was the most successful proletarian revolution ever, and resulted in near-totally equal distribution of land among the peasantry. Life expectancy under Mao increased at a rate of more than one year per year, to double from around thirty to over sixty. It is the most rapid sustained increase in life expectancy anywhere, ever. China's two thousand year food problem was solved.

Luckily your totally unbiased and free press can report such improvements in an impartial manner.

Dare you read anything I've linked? Can you get past your unearned smug arrogance? Or is the parasite attached to your forebrain just too strong?

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[–] brain_in_a_box@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago

If you actually had any love for the people of China, you'd respect their political autonomy and drop this paternal white savior act.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml -5 points 1 year ago

74 years is a single lifetime. The US has lasted longer than that and it will eventually be completely removed from the world map through decolonial struggle. 74 years for a small separatist movement to be protected by European powers who dominated China for centuries does not suddenly grant new moral, ethical, political, nor legal standing. They are not a firmly established democratic nation of their own, they are a Western vassal and proxy, and as the world financial system dedollarizes Taiwan will slowly shift its stance back towards China. China has every intent in creating the incentive structures for integration to be the correct choice for the people of Taiwan. Given that when it started support for integration was met with death, the current state of integration polling is a good sign that things are slowly moving in the direction China wants them to. And the people of Taiwan are not blind to nor ignorant of what the US does to its proxies.

Integration will eventually happen.