Taiwan's Independence

That's exactly what is stopping the PRC.

Thing is, if PRC does less than a tactical nuke and invades Taiwan, how far would US go? Would they assist Taiwan and possibly start a world war and ruin the trade between (after all PRC needs US more than the other way)? Or would they decide that Taiwan is not worth it? That's pretty much what is making the PRC hesitant.

edited 28th Jan '13 12:33:00 PM by IraTheSquire

Honestly, China and Taiwan, along with India and Pakistan, are probably one of the most likely causes of the next world war, if another world war happens.

I'm not sure about India and Pakistan though, since I don't know how deep their ties are to other countries.

They both have nukes and are willing to use them. Pakistan at least has ties to Middle Eastern countries and possibly Afghanistan. Plus, any attack on Pakistan will be seen by Muslim countries as an attack on Islam since Pakistan is, essentially, Muslim India.

Yeah, but it will still be very localised since India doesn't have ties with other countries (PRC have border disputes with India, and US has more ties with Pakistan than India) until somebody does something stupid (like using a nuke) and everybody goes 'Oi! The heck?!', if India doesn't fall under the barrage to several countries.

Yea, India and Pakistan have a good chance of fighting eachother, but it wouldn't turn into a world war. India has disputes with China though, and supports Tibet, so they might join in on a world war if China's involved.

The same nuclear calculation applies to India and Pakistan as it does to Taiwan and China, though to a lesser degree.

India is much larger, and it has many more people in it - India could lose the equivalent of Pakistan's entire population and still have more than 1,000,000,000 people. However, the effect is lessened by 1. India's smaller size relative to China - it would be easier to irradiate more of the country than it would be in a Taiwan/China exchange, and 2. The Indian government probably cares about its citizens more than the PRC.

They don't even care about their own river waters and toilet problems. What makes you think you can use that to accuse China?

I'm not going through it again. See all of my previous posts about why democracy is better and India's position of the Democracy Index (35th).

I also imagine that China would be more interested in preseving the organs of the Chinese state, which they see as synonymous with the life of the Chinese nation itself, than the lives of its citizens. Its a question of priorities. Also, they might have problems, but that doesn't mean they don't care.

EDIT: Not to mention the inherent hypocrisy of that statement.

edited 28th Jan '13 2:47:46 PM by Achaemenid

*cough*yellow river is toxic*cough*

Not to mention it's getting used up, thus the "South water to North" (my own rough translation) project.

Edit:

That would make the war even more one-sided as there's no one on India's side.

edited 28th Jan '13 3:27:47 PM by IraTheSquire

@ Cassie: India's trying their best. Not even the best of The British Empire could solve India's Problems. Give them time.

@ deathpigeon: Yep, the Saudis could buy Pakistan's Nuclear Program if they needed to.

edited 28th Jan '13 3:22:57 PM by Greenmantle

So I assume with what's happened in Hong Kong,Taiwan is even less keen on reuniting with the mainland. Anyone have any idea on the latest polls,if there are any.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/02/23/2003584139

As of last poll, 64 percent against, 19 for reunification. The rest , I'd assume, are undecided

It's interesting that far more young people support independence,especially since they are stereotyped as supporting "left wing" positions.

The conservatives in Taiwan were typically the KMT, who are all about reunification and being the true gov't of China, so that doesn't necessarily negate leftwingism.

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has appointed former Vice President Vincent Siew as Taiwan’s representative at the upcoming APEC leaders’ summit to be held in Beijing. The announcement officially quashes what small hope there was that Ma himself would attend the summit and hold an historic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Aww Ma cannot into friends

While the Left doesn't condone nationalism, the national question in of itself tends to be a very conditional question. As of now, I don't really consider China's leadership to really have much progressive potential in the instance of unification. Of course certain segments like the spartacists seem to still see China as an oppressed nation, and that Taiwan is just a bastion of imperialism.

It is nice to see solidarity between the sunflower movement and Hong Kong.

edited 10th Oct '14 2:29:10 PM by blueflame724

An article on Taiwan's turn away from China. I'm not sure how Taiwan's government works,would it be possible for Ma to fly to Beijing and sign a pact reunifying the two without any input from the Taiwanese public,or even their elected representatives?

edited 16th Oct '14 12:27:10 PM by JackOLantern1337

This thread has been dead for a while, but man, a lot of people's arguments regarding Hong Kong have not aged well

Not that much changed in Hong Kong, despite the events of recent years, afaik…

Meanwhile Tiawan vs. China is more relevant that ever, what with all that has been going on.