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What’s in a name? For Taiwan, maybe war or peace (China)
Khaleej Times ^ | 10-22-04

Posted on 10/25/2004 12:28:21 AM PDT by Fishing-guy

TAIPEI - Don’t try to book a China Airlines flight to Beijing because you’re likely to end up in Taipei.

(Excerpt) Read more at khaleejtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: china; taiwan
A pretty good description of the situation of Taiwan independence movement versus Republic of China versus People's Republic of China.
1 posted on 10/25/2004 12:28:21 AM PDT by Fishing-guy
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To: Fishing-guy
Chinese communists have said there is no Republic of China and hasn't been since 1949.

So if Taiwan says OK, we'll change the name of our country from ROC, then they will "feel China's wrath".

Makes no sense at all. ChiComs make no sense at all in that they say they will attack another country if that country (taiwan) says they don't want to take over China and kill all their leaders. China wants taiwan to claim to be the government of China and wants Taiwan to say taiwan will take over China. Saying they will counterattack China is not provocative. But saying we just want to live and let live -- now that is provocative and grounds for war?

Crazy.

Some ROC diehards in Taiwan often aren't much better in terms of logical coherence. I like the ROC and the flag, but objectively Taiwan never had anything to do with it. Taiwan was part of Japan when the ROC was founded and had nothing to do with China's civil war.

Taiwan's not part of China. The issue should be dropped by all sides and that be the end of it.

China's communist have bluffed just about everyone, though, it seems.

2 posted on 10/25/2004 12:52:17 AM PDT by tallhappy (Juntos Podemos!)
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To: tallhappy

The fascist governement's days on mainland are numbered. A democratic society will occur when China has a critical number of well-educated middle class. Flag of ROC or a variation of it may even fly over Taiwan and Mainland one day.


3 posted on 10/25/2004 1:07:36 AM PDT by Fishing-guy
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To: Fishing-guy

"They see the 55-year separation between Taiwan and China as a blip in Chinese history, one that will eventually be erased by the swing of the pendulum."

Well, it's been more like 110 years that Taiwan and mainland China have been politically separated, excluding the brief period after WWII, during the Chinese civil war. Before that Taiwan was at best neglected by the mainland as it was considered a haven for pirates and/or anti-Ching revolutionaries. Considering what mainland China and Taiwan have been through in the past century, 110 years may as well be an eternity.


4 posted on 10/25/2004 1:12:43 AM PDT by Avenger
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To: Fishing-guy

"The fascist governement's days on mainland are numbered. A democratic society will occur when China has a critical number of well-educated middle class."

Wrong. Nazi Germany had plenty of well-educated middle class people. If it wasn't for the fact that Nazi Germany was overzealous in its military pursuits it would likely still exist today. There is nothing inheritly instable about a fascist dictatorship. As long as Chinese in the cities are doing well financially there will be no serious calls for increased democracy. It simply won't happen. If on the other hand the economy does falter and social unrest rises then the leadership of the PRC will likely turn its eye on "enemies" to distract the populace and awaken nationalism. Japan and Taiwan (and therefore also the U.S.) will undoubtably be at the top of the list. I suspect we will not see real democracy in mainland China in our lifetimes, at least not without significant bloodshed.


5 posted on 10/25/2004 1:33:31 AM PDT by Avenger
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To: Avenger

Well, I disagree. ROC and S. Korea went from a fascist state to democracy in a short period of time.

Talking to the Chinese college students at my church, I would say the fascists' days are really numbered.


6 posted on 10/25/2004 1:41:46 AM PDT by Fishing-guy
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To: Fishing-guy

"Well, I disagree. ROC and S. Korea went from a fascist state to democracy in a short period of time."

The ROC and ROK went from "fascist states" to democracy mostly because both were closely tied to the U.S. The U.S. propped up a number of anti-communist "dictatorships" after WWII that were eventually nudged toward democracy - Chile is another example. The PRC is obviously an entirely different situation.

"Talking to the Chinese college students at my church, I would say the fascists' days are really numbered."

How many are planning on going back to mainland China after graduating and starting up new political parties to challenge the one-party state? I also wonder if your church state-sanctioned in the PRC? In any case, I know a number of Chinese from the PRC and my impression is quite the opposite of yours. They are very happy to enjoy the freedoms in the U.S. but at the same time they more than satisfied with the CCP as long as their families are prosperous and they see China's power in the world growing.


7 posted on 10/25/2004 2:03:07 AM PDT by Avenger
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