Everybody knows about the backstory, there was a civil war, KMT fled to Taiwan creating two Chinas sort of, maybe, neither recognises the other, whole thing. ROC (Taiwan) ended up transitioning from military rule to a multi-party democracy, while the PRC (mainland China) didn’t do that (they did reform economically, “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and all that, but still a one-party state, not a multi-party democracy). The status quo right now is that Taiwan is in the grey area of statehood where they function pretty much independently but aren’t properly recognised, and both sides of the strait are feeling pretty tense right now.
Taiwan’s stance on the issue is that they would like to remain politically and economically independent of mainland China, retaining their multi-party democracy, political connections to its allies, economic trade connections, etc. Also, a majority of the people in Taiwan do not support reunification with China.
China’s stance on the issue is that Taiwan should be reunified with the mainland at all costs, ideally peacefully, but war is not ruled out. They argue that Taiwan was unfairly separated from the mainland by imperial powers in their “century of humiliation”. Strategically, taking Taiwan would be beneficial to China as they would have better control of the sea.
Is it even possible for both sides to agree to a peaceful solution? Personally, I can only see two ways this could go about that has the consent of both parties. One, a reformist leader takes power in the mainland and gives up on Taiwan, and the two exist as separate independent nations. Or two, the mainland gets a super-reformist leader that transitions the mainland to a multi-party democracy, and maybe then reunification could be on the table, with Taiwan keeping an autonomous status given the large cultural difference (similar to Hong Kong or Macau’s current status). Both options are, unfortunately, very unlikely to occur in the near future.
A third option (?) would be a pseudo-unification, where Taiwan becomes a recognised country, but there can be free movement of people between the mainland and Taiwan, free trade, that sort of stuff (sort of like the EU? Maybe?). Not sure if the PRC would accept that.
What are your thoughts on a peaceful solution to the crisis that both sides could agree on?
edit: Damn there are crazies in both ends of the arguments. I really don’t think giving Taiwan nukes would help solve the problem.
I think the current best solution, looking at the more reasonable and realistic comments, seems to be to maintain the status quo, at least until both sides of the strait are able to come into some sort of agreement (which seems to be worlds away right now given their current very opposing stances on the issue)
Maybe, but it’s nowhere near the same scale or normalization. Say something positive about China(from infrastructure to poverty reduction)and it’s instantly “propaganda,” “brainwashed,” “you can’t trust anything from there.” Americans don’t get treated that way as a people. US media is taken as baseline reality despite massive corporate and state influence, while Chinese society unfortunately often gets dismissed wholesale as incapable of independent thought.
Hello friend, you seem to reasonable. Here’s a viewpoint from a Taiwanese. You will never see me say anything positive about China because you are an existential threat to our way of life. As individuals you all may be perfectly nice and lovely but as the bully next door we want nothing to do with you.
Out of curiosity, what specifically do you think would change in your daily life if Taiwan reintegrated and stopped functioning as a forward U.S. military platform? Concrete impacts like jobs, housing, healthcare, travel, civil rights as opposed to general terms like “freedom” that don’t really say much on their own would be preferred.
I would not be able to vote for my own leaders and representatives. Everything else (housing, healthcare, etc) can be fixed but once that is taken away we will have nothing.
Edit: I don’t agree that Taiwan is a vassal state or forward operating base for the Americans. Look at the US presence in Japan and Korea - if the Americans really viewed Taiwan (or if Taiwan viewed themselves being American lackeys) as being that important they would have sold us F-15s or other advanced weaponry like they did to Japan years ago and had actual bases here. I wish Taiwanese in general would show lesser favoritism to the Americans as a cultural and human rights sort of thing but when you have no real international relations you do what you must I suppose.
You do know the mainland does have voting, elections, and democracy right? It just operates differently from the vote every 3-6 years model. Representatives to local people’s congresses are directly elected, those bodies feed upward through provincial and national levels, and major legislation goes through consultation and revision processes before adoption. Participation is an ongoing process rather than a single national vote every few years. In my view, that is more substantive than simply choosing between parties every 3–6 years and then having limited influence afterward. There’s a reason long-running surveys (including work out of Harvard) have reported trust in the central government at over 90%. That level of confidence suggests many mainland citizens feel like me in that the system works well to represent us and our needs.
On the strategic question, Taiwan’s role is not defined by whether there are large permanent U.S. bases on the island. It sits at the center of what U.S. defense planners call the First Island Chain, a containment architecture stretching through Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Because of its geography alone, Taiwan functions as a critical strategic node. The United States does not need to station F-15s there for the island to serve as a pressure point, intelligence platform, and potential staging area in a conflict scenario. Arms sales, training cooperation, and naval deployments in the surrounding waters reflect that structural reality. Whether one calls it a “forward base” or not, Taiwan occupies a central place in U.S. regional military planning. Americans call the island the unsinkable aircraft carrier for a reason.
I really don’t care if everyone in China has a government issued unicorn that farts rainbows and shits soft serve ice cream. We want nothing to do with you. Leave us alone. Why is this so fucking hard for you people to understand?
That’s very hostile for no reason.
Lmfao. 不放棄武統台灣 is hostile.
So you blame me for that and that’s why you’re being hostile to me despite how I was just politely asking your opinion on things?
I like how you claim to me in a separate comment that you’re just a smol neutral and don’t really care if Taiwan unifies or not, but are now lecturing an actual Taiwanese person who told you that they do not want to be part of the PRC that actually, they should and the PRC is wonderful.
Such chauvinism.
I think you are illiterate. I have commented with you a few times and you seem incapable of grasping basic premises. I don’t care if Taiwan reunifies I was just curious why he holds the belief he does. He provided a reason that I’m my view starts from a flawed premise so I explained my thoughts on that. None of this was lecturing or chauvinism. Please learn what words mean and figure out how to grasp through lines before you talk to me further so we can have meaningful discussions as opposed to you just arguing in circles about bullshit you made up in your mind.
Yeah, I’m sure you’d query him the same way if he was a Taiwanese person supporting unification.
I would. Why pro reunification people hold their opinions is equally as interesting as pro independence or status quo believers.
As a Chinese American that was born in China and almost got terminated by the One Child Policy, I want to let you know I stand with democracy.
台湾加油，抵抗中共！✊
🤝🤝🤝
To be clear, the stereotype of the dumb American is at least true since at least the Iraq War.