Taiwan... well, it was long part of China proper before it became the offshore residence of Changkaishek who ran the island as a dictatorship for a generation or so. I agree, Taiwan has become a Chinese breakaway region and increasingly nationalist in nature among the younger generation. Is that something USA and other regional nations h…
Taiwan... well, it was long part of China proper before it became the offshore residence of Changkaishek who ran the island as a dictatorship for a generation or so. I agree, Taiwan has become a Chinese breakaway region and increasingly nationalist in nature among the younger generation. Is that something USA and other regional nations have a vital interest in? How about Vietnam? Interestingly, the Ukraine story is very similar in terms of nationalist aspirations; our public discourse have made perhaps too strong a point in stressing that the Russian invasion was a bully attack on an "independent nation"...not that I agree, by any stretch, with Russian methods, or that Ukrainian nationalism lacks legitimacy. In a way, this thing is akin to a civil war. At this point, I'd say the Russians have blown it, but if they win suppression and gulag will be the order of the way, another tradition going back a few centuries now at least. There is a long, tortured history here. Try Synder's Bloodlands or better, Plokhy's The Gates of Europe, if you haven't already. They will shake you down.
Taiwan... well, it was long part of China proper before it became the offshore residence of Changkaishek who ran the island as a dictatorship for a generation or so. I agree, Taiwan has become a Chinese breakaway region and increasingly nationalist in nature among the younger generation. Is that something USA and other regional nations have a vital interest in? How about Vietnam? Interestingly, the Ukraine story is very similar in terms of nationalist aspirations; our public discourse have made perhaps too strong a point in stressing that the Russian invasion was a bully attack on an "independent nation"...not that I agree, by any stretch, with Russian methods, or that Ukrainian nationalism lacks legitimacy. In a way, this thing is akin to a civil war. At this point, I'd say the Russians have blown it, but if they win suppression and gulag will be the order of the way, another tradition going back a few centuries now at least. There is a long, tortured history here. Try Synder's Bloodlands or better, Plokhy's The Gates of Europe, if you haven't already. They will shake you down.