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Xi Jinping vows to reunify China and Taiwan in New Year’s Eve speech (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/world@lemmy.world
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Thoughts?

Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn't it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?

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[–] -1 points 7 months ago (1 child)

Yup. The trends of rising standard of living in China plus the stagnation and self-destruction of the US are both pointing to closer ties between Taiwan and China over the long term - over the coming decades. Even today the majority in Taiwan prefers status quo and not independence. There's pro-idependence and pro-unification minorities. Besides, I don't think the Chinese want to deal with a separatist population and all the instability that causes, which would imevitaby follow if they annex by force.

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    The majority in Taiwan have always preferred status quo. That's what happens when you border a much larger neighbour that would see any overt move to officially declare independence (as in rebrand as Taiwan officially) as justification to invade.

    That's just the Taiwanese being self-aware to notice large power disparities and not wanting to rock the boat. Actual unification support with China polls about in the 10-15%. Lower than the "move to independence" bloc.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    No disagreement. I just think that there's a good chance for things to move in the unification direction because of these economic trends over the long haul. Might not happen that way. There's probably also a good chance to stay status quo for decades. Independece is very unlikely I think because the potential countries to recognize Taiwan are critically dependent on China in various ways, and declining in economic power.

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