The end result here being the non-acknowledgement of Taiwan’s de facto sovereignty, which is decidedly not a reflection of reality. I dare you to tell a Taiwanese person that they live in a dependent province of the PRC because other countries serving their own interests said so and see how they respond.
The bulk of Taiwanese support the status quo, including that being their official diplomatic position, so I think it would go over better than you imagine. The diehard separatists are a minority faction.
The status quo has broad support because it keeps the peace, and the Taiwanese people generally don’t want to fight a war against China. That doesn’t equate to the majority of the Taiwanese people holding the view that they’re a part of the PRC and it should be fairly obvious that they don’t believe nor want that.
The reality is the Taiwan isn’t broadly recognized as a sovereign country, so it doesn’t wield the same authority as an independent nation in terms of international agreements, trade, etc. It doesn’t have allies who would defend potential sovereignty, and it doesn’t have enough guns or money to leverage itself as independent. That’s way more important than some abstract discontent some people feel. At best you could say Taiwan is a Chinese client state.
Countries don’t exist because some people feel like they should be one. I could ask you to talk to a Texan secessionist and tell them their cause is hopeless.
I will tell a person living in Taiwan they live in a province of China, sure. I don’t care. Their government is the remnant of the defeated nationalist faction and I have no sympathy for it. Taiwan will hopefully get reabsorbed into the mainland within my lifetime.
Of course it’s purely diplomatic, acknowledging countries is diplomacy. The end result is the same.
The end result here being the non-acknowledgement of Taiwan’s de facto sovereignty, which is decidedly not a reflection of reality. I dare you to tell a Taiwanese person that they live in a dependent province of the PRC because other countries serving their own interests said so and see how they respond.
The bulk of Taiwanese support the status quo, including that being their official diplomatic position, so I think it would go over better than you imagine. The diehard separatists are a minority faction.
The status quo has broad support because it keeps the peace, and the Taiwanese people generally don’t want to fight a war against China. That doesn’t equate to the majority of the Taiwanese people holding the view that they’re a part of the PRC and it should be fairly obvious that they don’t believe nor want that.
The reality is the Taiwan isn’t broadly recognized as a sovereign country, so it doesn’t wield the same authority as an independent nation in terms of international agreements, trade, etc. It doesn’t have allies who would defend potential sovereignty, and it doesn’t have enough guns or money to leverage itself as independent. That’s way more important than some abstract discontent some people feel. At best you could say Taiwan is a Chinese client state.
Countries don’t exist because some people feel like they should be one. I could ask you to talk to a Texan secessionist and tell them their cause is hopeless.
I will tell a person living in Taiwan they live in a province of China, sure. I don’t care. Their government is the remnant of the defeated nationalist faction and I have no sympathy for it. Taiwan will hopefully get reabsorbed into the mainland within my lifetime.
Texas is de fact and de jure a part of the United States. It’s not a valid comparison and you know it.