437
submitted 6 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Summary

Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated in his New Year’s speech that Taiwan’s “reunification” with China is inevitable.

China has escalated military activity around Taiwan, including frequent incursions near the island and sanctions on U.S.-linked companies over arms sales to Taipei.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te rejected Beijing's claims, stating Taiwan’s future can only be decided by its people.

Lai also criticized China’s restrictions on travel and education exchanges with Taiwan, calling for dignified, reciprocal relations based on goodwill and equality.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

K, I don't use all caps a lot, but I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR.

I will not be a slave to history. My defense of Taiwan is entirely based on the here and now.

K I need to qualify that statement somewhat. History is useful for explaining why the world is the way it is today, and serves as a guide into the future, but it is useless as some kind of long term score sheet.

[-] john89@lemmy.ca -4 points 5 days ago

Well, if that's how you want to see it then the idea of "rightful owner" doesn't matter much.

It's really just who you like more at that point.

[-] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

It's not that the rightful owner doesn't matter. It's that it is hard to quantify on this scale, and it is especially hard to quantify using history.

And yeah, it is in fact more about who I like more. I like the Taiwanese government because the Taiwanese people are in control of it, and I believe in every human's right to choose their own government. I hate the Chinese government for exactly the same reason, along with the fact that they're a bunch of land grabbing imperialist bastards.

[-] john89@lemmy.ca -3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I'm glad you can admit your bias and that your idea of who China belongs to is based on personal preference.

[-] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 0 points 3 days ago

I'm glad you can admit that you consider human rights as a form of personal preference.

But my, uh, "preference" for human rights isn't actually the highest principle at play here. The highest principle here is that of internationally-agreed-upon borders. A country may not violate these borders. Period. For example, even though I like Taiwan's government more, I do not believe they deserve one square metre of mainland China.

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
437 points (96.0% liked)

World News

39491 readers
2241 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