Everybody knows about the backstory, there was a civil war, KMT fled to Taiwan creating two Chinas sort of, maybe, neither recognises the other, whole thing. ROC (Taiwan) ended up transitioning from military rule to a multi-party democracy, while the PRC (mainland China) didn’t do that (they did reform economically, “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and all that, but still a one-party state, not a multi-party democracy). The status quo right now is that Taiwan is in the grey area of statehood where they function pretty much independently but aren’t properly recognised, and both sides of the strait are feeling pretty tense right now.
Taiwan’s stance on the issue is that they would like to remain politically and economically independent of mainland China, retaining their multi-party democracy, political connections to its allies, economic trade connections, etc. Also, a majority of the people in Taiwan do not support reunification with China.
China’s stance on the issue is that Taiwan should be reunified with the mainland at all costs, ideally peacefully, but war is not ruled out. They argue that Taiwan was unfairly separated from the mainland by imperial powers in their “century of humiliation”. Strategically, taking Taiwan would be beneficial to China as they would have better control of the sea.
Is it even possible for both sides to agree to a peaceful solution? Personally, I can only see two ways this could go about that has the consent of both parties. One, a reformist leader takes power in the mainland and gives up on Taiwan, and the two exist as separate independent nations. Or two, the mainland gets a super-reformist leader that transitions the mainland to a multi-party democracy, and maybe then reunification could be on the table, with Taiwan keeping an autonomous status given the large cultural difference (similar to Hong Kong or Macau’s current status). Both options are, unfortunately, very unlikely to occur in the near future.
A third option (?) would be a pseudo-unification, where Taiwan becomes a recognised country, but there can be free movement of people between the mainland and Taiwan, free trade, that sort of stuff (sort of like the EU? Maybe?). Not sure if the PRC would accept that.
What are your thoughts on a peaceful solution to the crisis that both sides could agree on?
No, he would not achieve the same thing if he “calmed down.” Because the reason the US wants missiles on Taiwan has absolutely nothing to do with how “calm” Xi Jinping is.
It also has nothing to do with how democratic China is. In fact, it’s the opposite. The US prefers to have anti-democratic governments because those are the governments most willing to hand over all the country’s resources.
Tell me, how did “not being a dictator” and “remaining calm” work out for Mohammad Mossadegh, the peaceful, progressive, democratically elected prime minister of Iran, who was deposed in a CIA coup in favor of a fascist monarch who hunted down anyone to his left with secret police?
You are completely delusional and ignorant of history and reality.
Mighty rich coming from a .ml user lol
Why would it matter if the us had missiles in Taiwan if China didn’t want to take it over? The us can place missiles in South Korea, Japan or you know, ICBMs are a thing.
Your reasoning is so flawed, why would it be more likely for the US to succeed in a coup in china if Taiwan was free?
Taiwan is much closer to many Chinese population centers. ICBMs are easier to detect and shoot down than missiles on your doorstep.
Also, to be clear, you think the US concern over missiles in Cuba was completely spurious, right?
I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t say anything about Taiwan being free making it easier for the US to stage a coup (whether or not that’s true). The point is that being peaceful and democratic does not in any way placate the US.