Tim,
The situation for Taiwan and China now results from the past history. Yes, of course, we could say,"If China didn't insist on the return of Taiwan" or "If the the Chinese Nationalists didn't come to Taiwan". But to the generations of us, who were born after all these, what we could do is just imagine how it could be if all of these have never happened. Even though China "could have" gave up Taiwan earlier then, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to make this decision now. And we all know that not every country stand by our side, and that none of them who do wants to be on the opposite side of China. So, what's the point of discussing whether Taiwan "was" a part of China for now? When there's a gun or there's money, no one care about the truth.
Allison
Dear Allison,
ReplyDeleteBefore I respond to your letter, is there any "new" news about Amy, the last letter that I had from her was on January 7th. Is she missing a lot of school? Also, how is Doris doing? Ar you still friends with her?
Taiwan is in a very awkward position. In fact, Taiwan is an independent country, but because most other countries think that they can make so much money from China, China can get away with acting like a bully, and pressure other countries to ignore Taiwan.
China has long said that if any country officially "recognizes" Taiwan independence, all kind of bad things will happen, including a possible Chinese military attack on Taiwan.
That has the rest of the world scared, but many countries are still supportive of Taiwan, including the US and Japan.
What Taiwan needs to do is to develop stronger relations, including military relations, with every country in SE Asia. Most of them don't like China. This would include the US, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, and even Singapore. The purpose of this is that if China starts to get aggressive, there will be a wall of Allied ships in the Taiwan Straits.
But Taiwan also has to take care if itself. If there is a trade war between the US and China, because China cheats all of the time, Taiwan is sure to get hurt because 40% of its manufacturing is done in Taiwan-owned factories in China. Taiwan has got to start moving more of its industry out of China, and into more friendly countries. What about the 400,000 Taiwanese who live and work in China. They will have to decide if they want to be Taiwanese, or Chinese. It's looking as though it will be hard for them to continue of be both.
is this too much politics and economics? I'm sorry, but you asked.
Tim