THERE are lots of excellent reasons why America should deepen its relations with Taiwan, the raucous, friendly and dynamic island of 25m people that shows that democracy and Chinese culture can co-exist, despite what apologists for one-party rule like to claim. There is one heartbreaking and serious reason why any process of deepening relations cannot include America moving to recognise Taiwan as an independent sovereign state—at least as long as mainland China is governed by its current authoritarian and fiercely nationalist (though nominally Communist) rulers.
The problem is China and its absolute insistence that Taiwan is no more than a renegade province, which must one day be re-united with the mainland, if necessary by force. In a different world, in which might never makes right, Taiwan’s independence would be no more than a question of justice and common sense: after all, the island has never been controlled by the Communist government in Beijing, and its population grows more attached to a distinctive Taiwanese identity with each new generation. But that is not this world. Worse, Communist officials and generals are not alone in their opposition to Taiwanese independence. Thanks in part to decades of nationalist education and indeed indoctrination, starting in kindergarten, the Chinese public reacts ferociously to any suggestion that foreign powers are...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2gBTEXB
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