29
submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Taiwan expressed thanks and China was upset on Wednesday after Donald Trump signed into law legislation requiring the U.S. State Department to regularly review and update guidelines on how the United States officially interacts with Taipei.

The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, and the issue is a constant source of irritation in Sino-U.S. relations given Beijing views the democratically-governed island as its own.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung told reporters more frequent reviews of the guidelines would allow Taiwanese officials into federal agencies for meetings, for example, though the legislation does not make explicit mention of this.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China firmly opposes any form of official contact between the United States and "the Taiwan region of China".

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] wheezy@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's just so odd to me. Like, the historical parallel here would be if during the US civil War the Confederate army retreated to the Florida Keys and the Union was never able to conquer them due to other international conflicts.

So for 30 years the Confederates rule there with slavery and a dictatorship over the people. All the while they keep calling themselves "The real America"

The "Keys" see progress eventually following a less hostile relationship with the Union and have their dictatorship replaced by a more liberal form. A normalizing could occur and diplomatic relations between the Keys and the rest of America could occur peacefully and under the wishes of the existing people of the Keys.

BUT, for some reason some other country on the other side of the world has been establishing military alliances and bases near the Keys. They are "allies" with the Keys but on paper acknowledge the Union as the "real America".

Say what you want about China today. But, what the fuck is America even doing here? They don't reduce tensions with Taiwan or "protect it". They don't care about democracy. They literally supported its fascist leaders for decades. America's hostile invasion of Korea to support fascist over communist is the entire reason that Taiwan was never captured by mainland China during their civil war. They did not want to risk conflict with the Western state that was doing everything to install loyal dictators in Korea and their neighbors.

China can have bad intentions and not give the people of Taiwan their now rightful self determination. I'm not saying that. But, holy shit, Americans just eat up the "we have to be a part of ever conflict ever"

That is not why the US cares about it. The US will abandon them (or bomb them) if it's beneficial to US oligarchs to do so. Can we get some healthcare and stop worrying about what China does in its own backyard?

To be an enemy of the US is dangerous. To be an ally of the US is fatal.

[-] erzdt@piefed.social 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Taiwan never had been under PRCs control. The Union and Confederacy aren't comparable to PRC and ROC.

But, if in your analogy the civil war ended decades ago and the successor of the Confederacy would be under the threat of invasion by the Union, of course it could be justified to arm the successor of the Confederacy and to defend them in case of war.

On the other hand, in the analogy, nations could ignore one of the sides in case of slavery, aggressive foreign policies, general human rights abuses, global strategy and economics or whatever.

[-] wheezy@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"The Florida Keys were never under control of the United States"

That what you just said if we're keeping the analogy true.

Then you essentially justified the arming and support of a slave owning state by "a foreign nation" if that slave owning state was being threatened. Which (clarifying the analogy) is the US supporting the very much fascist state of Taiwan in its inception and it's authoritarian rule for over three decades.

And, again, literally zero responses on why the US needs to be involved in every single conflict across the world.

Like, I have the obvious answer to this. But, my comment was meant to make you actually think. Instead, you somehow justified defending a slave state in the analogy.

[-] erzdt@piefed.social 0 points 2 months ago

To be clear, I would support a democratic successor to the confederation that respects human rights and comes to terms with its past, and is threatened by an authoritarian Union that does not respect human rights. However, I don't think this analogy is helpful at all.

I wish more countries would support Taiwan as the US does. I would particularly like to see my country take a stronger stance on this issue. Unlike China, Taiwan is a free and democratic state today. Taiwan has been a de facto independent state since 1949.

[-] wheezy@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

So a country halfway across the world supporting your "freedom" because they benefit from the manufacturing the country outputs is freedom. But a country that is your neighbor, like China, that has literally never invaded you and has normalized relations with you is "a threat". The Allie is a country that literally just abandoned an allie in Ukraine when it became unprofitable to support them.

How many times does the US need to abandon an allie like this for people to understand that being an Allie of the US is not beneficial to the "freedom" of that state.

Russia invading Ukraine is unjustifiable. IF China invaded Taiwan it would also be unjustifiable. But, do you really think the US policy of "fighting to the last Ukrainian" and then abandoning them was good for Ukraine?

There is no benefit that comes from being an Allie of the US. If Taiwan wants to remain out of conflicts it's best option is to distance itself from the US. The benefits only exist until the US decides it's no longer as profitable to their weapons manufacturers. Then shift their focus to somewhere else (Venezuela for example).

[-] erzdt@piefed.social 1 points 2 months ago

I am sure that China would invade Taiwan if it had the chance. China is the one country that uses its power to isolate Taiwan internationally wherever possible, claiming that Taiwan belongs inside its borders. Therefore, the USA guaranteeing Taiwan's independence is helping Taiwan. I'm not saying that the U.S. is acting altruistically, and I definitely don't think Trump is acting altruistically or morally, but the result in Taiwan has been the right one. Though, I am not convinced that Trump wouldn't sell Taiwan to China at some point.

I also don't know why you put "freedom" in quotation marks. Taiwan has a functioning democracy with a free press, the right to demonstrate,... It's at least on par with Europe freedomwise. If China were to invade Taiwan, that would be lost.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
29 points (100.0% liked)

World News

53660 readers
196 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS