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funkiokie t1_je9hiqj wrote

Why does China have such a big problem with some foreign national leader visiting another country??

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I_might_be_weasel t1_jeai4bg wrote

Because China doesn't like them being a different country and has decided to deny reality and tries to intimidate others to do the same.

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Stickyyman t1_jeddi2y wrote

There is no reality when it comes to countries and borders really… countries get conquered, split, and renamed all the time. Just look at Israel only 100 years ago it went from turks to arabs to jews

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lipovacdotcom t1_jedpf46 wrote

Taiwan officials went and said that they are part of China themselves and should work together.

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captaincw_4010 t1_jee6d8y wrote

Well it’s ether pay lip service to being one china or war so

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NaDer707 t1_jeaqk5m wrote

Because China sees other countries doing diplomacy with Taiwan as a recognition of Taiwan’s sovereignty, something China cannot stand the idea of. China thinks they own Taiwan, and are willing to make threats to keep other countries from recognizing Taiwan’s independence, for fear of a massive retaliation.

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FauxVacuum t1_jeaurul wrote

West China was overrun by communists, and want the rest of the world to think they're the legit China.

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immature_masochist t1_jebn0fk wrote

The Communist Party won the civil war and became the legitimate government of China. By your logic the Union is not a legitimately government and people shouldn't get upset when the South still flies Confederacy flags?

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quickasawick t1_jec2zcx wrote

First, the Confederacy was never the legitimate government of the United States, while Chiang Kai Shek's government was in China. Second, Mao never completely overthrew all of China, just the mainland. So by your logic, well, I can't find any logic there, just an attempt to equate two very unrelatable scenarios.

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Skavau t1_jeeymv1 wrote

But they never took Taiwan. They have never governed Taiwan.

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[deleted] t1_je9m1sx wrote

[deleted]

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Oxon_Daddy t1_je9vho8 wrote

To be clear:

(a) Taiwan is an independent state, not a quasi-independent state.

(b) The only reason that any other state maintains the sham that is the "One China" policy is because China threatens to sever diplomatic and trade relations if they don't.

You do not authentically imply that a state is not independent because you are coerced into an evasive policy or you maintain it only to keep the peace.

(c) The only reason that China has not used military force to annex Taiwan in the past is because it did not have the capabilities to do so; it is beginning to believe that it might have that capability in the near future, which is why the prospect of an invasion is becoming more likely.

It is not because of Taiwan's importance as a producer of semiconductors; China wanted to annex Taiwan before it became a dominant manufacturer of semiconductors.

(d) The US and other states take seriously China's intention to invade Taiwan; very few serious commentators think (as your comment implies) that there is no (or even a very low) risk of invasion over the medium-term time horizon.

Commentators take seriously Xi Jinping's express direction to the PLA that it should be able to invade Taiwan by 2027.

(e) Other countries were "cozying up" to Taiwan long before it became a major manufacturer of microchips; most democratic states recognised Taiwan as the legitimate government in mainland China until the rapprochement between the US and the CCP in 1972.

The US and its allies continue to support Taiwan because it is a vibrant democratic state with liberal values in South East Asia that a ruthless authoritarian state wants to crush; it is not "because microchips" as you have claimed.

That it is a major manufacturer of microchips only increases its importance; but the US and its allies would defend it against Chinese aggression even if it wasn't (as the US did in the 1990s).

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cookingboy t1_jeafg0l wrote

> The US and its allies continue to support Taiwan because it is a vibrant democratic state with liberal values

I agree with almost everything you said except the above. The biggest reason of supporting Taiwan is because it’s a strategic counter-balance against China.

The U.S has supported Taiwan ever since 1949, but Taiwan was a brutal military dictatorship back then ruled by KMT. We supported them because it was the Cold War and they were anti-Communists.

Taiwan didn’t have their first democratic presidential election until the 90s.

Same for South Korea. We supported them because they were anti-Communists, not because they were a liberal democracy. SK didn’t become democratic until much later after the Korean War.

Now Taiwan being a liberal democracy gives us one more reason to support them, but it wasn’t the original driving factor.

Things like “we support democracy” is what the US government uses to sell our policies to the public, but history shows that we care most and foremost for American interests. Afterall we’ve overthrown democracies to install pro-US dictatorships and even today we are ally with countries like Saudi Arabia.

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Emergency_Type143 t1_jeb4e5i wrote

To China, Taiwan is a part of their government. So they see this as insurrection/betrayal. Well, those ignoring the reality of Taiwanese sovereignty.

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Glass_Windows t1_jee1275 wrote

I think it’s because China doesn’t want Taiwan to get closer to the USA as a lot of surronding countries to china are close to the usa which if a potential war happens, USA has many countries to have presence in that are right beside China or nearby,

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lipovacdotcom t1_jedpd2b wrote

How would you feel if Russia went to Mexico to build army bases? exactly you wouldn't like that and you will threaten Russia with nukes or whatever

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Skavau t1_jeeysct wrote

If USA was threatening to invade Mexico to take Baja California, I would not be surprised if they cozied up with China

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