ISSUE #89: TAIWAN - THE TRUTH.
You might have been hearing about Taiwan a lot during the past couple of weeks. Some people are saying that Taiwan could heat up the Cold War tensions between the US and China, some are even saying that it could easily become a catalyst for WWIII.
The Western media wants you to believe that Taiwan is an independent country, while the Chinese media says it is a part of China. You don’t need to believe anyone when you can make up your own mind by looking at some historical irrefutable facts.
A BRIEF TAIWAN HISTORY:
We need to go back to the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), which encompassed modern day China, Mongolia, and Taiwan.
In 1683, Taiwan became a part of Fujian province - the mainland province closest to Taiwan - and remained so until 1886 when it became its own Chinese province.
The first Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1894 which primarily took place in Korea and Taiwan. The war ended with the Japanese victory a year later, and the Japanese annexation of Taiwan. So, Taiwan began being ruled by imperial Japan in 1895.
Taiwan existed as the Japanese colony called Formosa for the next 50 years until the collapse of the Japanese empire in 1945. Taiwan was said to be returned to China, but China itself lacked a unified government due to the Civil war between Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong. The civil war ended with the victory of communists, and instead of accepting defeat, the Nationalist forces were retreated from the mainland to Taiwan. This is where the Taiwan issue began as we know it today.
Chiang Kai-Shek self-declared that he represents the legitimate government of China from the Taiwan province, not the Chinese communists who won the civil war. Eager to undermine communism, the US also went along with this absurd claim and instead of recognizing the communist government in Beijing, it gave Taiwan China’s seat at the UN Security Council to support the absurd idea of Taiwanese Nationalist government being the real government of China.
WHY IS THIS ABSURD?
Think of it in this way: We all know that during the American civil war, the Union defeated the Confederacy. That’s a historical fact just like the fact that the Chinese communists defeated the Chinese nationalists. But imagine instead of accepting that they lost the war, the Confederacy retreated all their forces to an island off of Florida and called itself the real government of America, not the one in Washington. Not only this, imagine if they also received funding from pro-Confederate allies like Britain and America’s seat at the UN Security Council.
But in order to normalize the severed diplomatic relations with China, the US had to agree with this basic aspect of China’s sovereignty, and in the Shanghai Communique 1972 the US agreed that Taiwan is a part of China. The US also acknowledged that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China under the “One China Policy.”
IS CHINA OVERREACTING TO THE TAIWAN ISSUE?
You can answer the question above by answering the following question:
How would the US react if China sends it delegation to Puerto Rico or Hawaii in defiance of the government in Washington and says, “China supports the independence of Hawaii/Puerto Rico.” The US would not sit calmly and rightly so. Then why does the US think it has the authority to interfere in domestic issues of other countries?
WHY IS THE US TRYING TO PROVOKE CHINA OVER TAIWAN ISSUE?
The answer is simple; the rise of China threatens the status quo in which the US is the sole hegemon of the world, and it’s been doing everything it can to win the Great Power Conflict - be it through tariffs, sanctions, provocations, propaganda, etc.
The US has been kind of ruling the world for the past 77 years; it controls the reserve currency of the world, it controls the global financial transactional system, it military bases are all over the world, it controls the information majority of us consume everyday, and it doesn’t want its hegemony to end - just like every other ruler throughout history.
This is why the TV man tells you to hate China.
This is why both parties tell you to hate China.
This is why Mark Zuckerberg wants you to hate China.
Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan can be thought of as the end of the beginning of the desperate US making efforts to thwart the rise of China. Expecting the tensions to rise between the two biggest economies or even a hot war between them is not an exaggeration, but a simple viewpoint about the future for any rational person looking at the current geopolitical scenario.
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