Actually... the 'Mainland-China' isn't 'China' at all -- they got rid of their own legacy during the Cultural Revolution. The traditions, artworks, even the people were lost for a lost cause (idolization of Mao)
Taiwan is 'what remains of the real China -- the Han dynasty and others'. Though the mainland 'Chinese' has deteriorated the branding 'china' so much that Taiwanese no longer wants to do anything with the word 'china'
This is interestingly quite true, it seems that many of the original traditions, ceremonies as well as written Chinese language are kept alive by Taiwan.
I've understood it like this : Taiwan is a successful, politically stable liberal democracy. It's existence contradicts the CCP stance that democracy is inherently Western and inconsistent with Chinese culture. [* I have no citation for this, I feel I've read it multiple times ] The CCP stance delegitimises Taiwan and the example of Chinese democracy it represents. Military pressure adds to this, because it creates uncertainty that Taiwan will be able to maintain control over its territory in the future, and pushes Taiwan to need support from the US, which feeds the argument that it is not a true free standing Asian country, but an artefact of foreign incursion.
China is a big powerful country. But that shouldn't be surprising. I think you can argue that China has been the most important centre of human civilisation and scientific progress for most of human history.
I wonder whether the CCP are concerned that mainland Chinese would otherwise look across the Taiwan Strait, and rather than thank the CCP for the success of recent decades, would instead wonder how much better life might be if China was more like Taiwan.
>I've understood it like this : Taiwan is a successful, politically stable liberal democracy. It's existence contradicts the CCP stance that democracy is inherently Western and inconsistent with Chinese culture. [* I have no citation for this
It goes back to Marxism - Xi not only needs to squelch comparisons to Taiwan (original pre-CCP culture, freedom, democracy), but also the US. In other words, Xi needs to be god on earth.
Hence the remarkable CCP spy penetration into all Western countries at the political, educational and business levels. It's so bad that Biden wants to pardon US politicians because the DNC is riddled with CCP influence.
That's the benefit. But what's the cost, and is the cost outweighed by the benefit?
Invading someone, particularly if you haven't practised, is expensive, difficult and prone to failure. And if you fail, you've shown impotence in public.
So maybe investing in your own high tech manufacturing is has a better chance of succeeding for the same level of effort, if you see what I mean.
It's around 81 miles of open sea, whereas England to France is 21 miles. It's far enough that China hasn't been able to succeed yet, though they tried before:
Doing amphibious landings like that requires air superiority and luck. Anzio, Galipoli and half of the D-Day landing beaches are examples of how badly things can go - you can get pushed back into the sea, or be climbing against artillery.
Having said that, the CCP will do something. I'm not sure if they want to try human-wave attacks with the current generation of soy-boy soldiers, but they could just launch enough rockets to destroy Taipei and Tainan.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 44.3 ms ] threadTaiwan is 'what remains of the real China -- the Han dynasty and others'. Though the mainland 'Chinese' has deteriorated the branding 'china' so much that Taiwanese no longer wants to do anything with the word 'china'
And what is the plan for resolving the cultural/philosophical difference between East and West?
It seems to me that there must be some active resolution. And if we aren't careful it could default to warfare.
China is a big powerful country. But that shouldn't be surprising. I think you can argue that China has been the most important centre of human civilisation and scientific progress for most of human history.
I wonder whether the CCP are concerned that mainland Chinese would otherwise look across the Taiwan Strait, and rather than thank the CCP for the success of recent decades, would instead wonder how much better life might be if China was more like Taiwan.
It goes back to Marxism - Xi not only needs to squelch comparisons to Taiwan (original pre-CCP culture, freedom, democracy), but also the US. In other words, Xi needs to be god on earth.
Hence the remarkable CCP spy penetration into all Western countries at the political, educational and business levels. It's so bad that Biden wants to pardon US politicians because the DNC is riddled with CCP influence.
Invading someone, particularly if you haven't practised, is expensive, difficult and prone to failure. And if you fail, you've shown impotence in public.
So maybe investing in your own high tech manufacturing is has a better chance of succeeding for the same level of effort, if you see what I mean.
Previous Taiwan Strait Conflict
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Taiwan_Strait_Crisis
Doing amphibious landings like that requires air superiority and luck. Anzio, Galipoli and half of the D-Day landing beaches are examples of how badly things can go - you can get pushed back into the sea, or be climbing against artillery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anzio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_campaign
Having said that, the CCP will do something. I'm not sure if they want to try human-wave attacks with the current generation of soy-boy soldiers, but they could just launch enough rockets to destroy Taipei and Tainan.