THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TAIWAN AND CHINA AND THE ROLE OF USA AND OTHER BIG POWERS
WHY DOES THE TAIWAN WANT FULL FREEDOM ?
China wants another Tibet to be under own , followed by the USSR
to keep many countries like the slave on gun point .
The first known settlers in Taiwan were a group of tribal people, who are thought to have come from modern day southern China.
The island seems to have first exposed to Chinese in AD239, as
a Chinese emperor sent an
expeditionary force to explore the area - a fact Beijing uses these days
to favour its territorial claim.
After a time span as a Dutch colony (1624-1661), Taiwan was
administered by China's Qing dynasty from 1683 to 1895.
From the 17th Century, significant numbers of migrants started
arriving from China, often fleeing turmoil or hardship. Most Chinese were from Fukien province or Hakka Chinese, largely from
Guangdong. Their descendants are now by far the largest demographic groups on
the island.
In 1895, Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Qing
government had to cede Taiwan to Japan. After WW2 Japan surrendered and left control of this territory it had taken from China.
The Republic of China (ROC) - one of the victors in the war -
began ruling Taiwan with the consent of its allies, the US and UK as per the
situation .
But in the next few years a civil war broke out in China, and
the then-leader Chiang Kai-shek's troops were defeated by Mao’s Communist army.
Chiang, the remnants of his Kuomintang (KMT) government and
their supporters - about 1.5m people - fled to Taiwan in 1949.
This group, referred to as Mainland Chinese, dominated Taiwan's
politics for many years though they only account for 14% of the population.
Chiang established a government in exile in Taiwan which he led for the next 25
years.
Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, allowed more democratisation
after coming to power. He faced resistance from local people resentful of
authoritarian rule and was under pressure from a growing democracy movement.
President Lee Teng-hui, known as Taiwan's
"father of democracy", led constitutional changes
towards, which eventually made way for the election of the island's first
non-KMT president, Chen Shui-bian, in 2000.
So who recognises Taiwan?
There is disagreement and confusion about what Taiwan is.
It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and
about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces.
Chiang's ROC government-in-exile at first claimed to represent
the whole of China, which it intended to re-occupy. It held China's seat on the
United Nations Security Council and was recognised by many Western nations as
the only Chinese government.
Chiang Kai-shek, once the leader in China, fled with his supporters to Taiwan
But by the 1970s some countries began to argue that the Taipei
government could no longer be considered a genuine representative of the
hundreds of millions of people living in mainland China.
Then in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced out. In 1978, China also began opening up its economy. Setting up opportunities for trade and the need to develop relations, the US formally established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1979.
Since then the number of countries that recognise the ROC
government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15.
Now, despite having all the characteristic of an independent
state and a political system that is distinct from China, Taiwan's legal status
remains unclear.
NOW WHAT IS THE WRONG WITH CHINA ?
Relations started improving in the 1980s as Taiwan relaxed rules
on visits to and investment in China. In 1991, it proclaimed that the war with
the People's Republic of China was over.
China proposed the so-called "one country, two
systems" option, which it said would allow Taiwan significant autonomy , if
it agreed to come under Beijing's control. This system underpinned Hong Kong's
return to China in 1997 and the manner in which it was governed until recently,
when Beijing has sought to increase its influence.
Taiwan rejected the offer and Beijing's insisted that Taiwan's
ROC government is illegitimate - but unofficial representatives from China and
Taiwan still held limited talks.
Then in 2000, Taiwan elected Chen Shui-bian as president, much
to Beijing's alarm. Mr Chen and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),
had openly asked for full independence.
A year after Mr Chen was re-elected in 2004, China passed a
so-called anti-secession law, stating China's right to use "non-peaceful
means" against Taiwan if it tried to "secede" from China.
Mr Chen was succeeded by the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 who
tried improving relations through economic agreements.
Eight years later, in 2016, Taiwan's current president Tsai Ing-wen, who now leads the independence-leaning DPP, was elected.Under Ms Tsai, cross-Straits relations soured again .
The rhetoric sharpened further in 2018 as Beijing stepped up
pressure on international companies - if they failed to list Taiwan as a part
of China on their websites, it threatened to block them from doing business in
China.
Ms Tsai won a second term in 2020 with a record-breaking 8.2
million votes in what was widely seen as a snub to Beijing. By then Hong Kong
had seen months of unrest, with huge protesters against the mainland's growing
influence - and many in Taiwan were watching closely.
Later that year, China's
implemented a national security law in Hong Kong that is
considered to be yet another sign of Beijing's assertion.
How is the inner conflict ?
While political progress has been slow, links between Beijing
and Taipei, and the two economies have grown. Between 1991 and the end of May
2021, Taiwanese investment in China totalled $193.5bn (£157.9bn), Taiwanese
official figures show.
Some Taiwanese people worry their economy is now dependent on
China. Others believe that closer business ties make Chinese military action
less likely, because of the cost to China's own economy.
A controversial trade agreement sparked the "Sunflower
Movement" in 2014, where students and activists occupied Taiwan's
parliament protesting against what they called China's growing influence over
Taiwan.
Officially, the ruling DPP still favours formal independence for
Taiwan, while the KMT favours eventual unification with China.
Recent polls show many Taiwanese support the government's approach in "safeguarding national sovereignty"
But most Taiwanese people seem to fall somewhere in between.
A June
2022 survey found that only 5.2% of Taiwanese supported
independence as soon as possible, while 1.3% were in favour of unification with
mainland China at the earliest possibility.
The rest supported some form of maintaining the status quo, with
the largest group wanting to maintain it indefinitely with no move towards
either independence or unification.
What does the US have to do with the
China-Taiwan divide?
Washington's long-standing policy has been one of
"strategic ambiguity" to the extent that it would intervene
militarily if China were to invade Taiwan.
Officially, it sticks to the "One-China" policy, which
recognises only one Chinese government - in Beijing - and has formal ties with
Beijing rather than Taipei.
But it has also pledged to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons
and stressed that any attack by China would cause "grave concern".
In May 2022, President Joe Biden replied in the affirmative when
asked whether the US would defend Taiwan militarily. Soon after, the White
House quickly clarified that the US position on Taiwan had not changed and
reiterated its commitment to the "One-China" policy. It has similarly
contradicted previous statements by Mr Biden on military support for Taiwan.
The issue of Taiwan has also strained relations between the US
and China. Beijing has condemned any perceived support from Washington for
Taipei - and has responded by stepping up incursions of military jets into
Taiwan's air defence zone since Mr Biden's election.
But there is a different world out of the treaty . Very recently the whole world is witnessing the highest level brutal genocide and war crime , conducted by the Russian Dictator , Mr Crazy Putin throughout the Ukraine . Innocents Ukranians are being victimized of a crazy and inhuman dictator from Russia . Still Ukraine is lucky enough as they also have the never giving up mentality and getting some support from Crazy countries .
But the case of Taiwan is totally different . Taiwan is not surrounded like Ukraine with powerful European countries . This country is never ever enough to fight back against the Chinese army , led by the communist dictator .
So the civilized and peace loving countries of Europe and USA should all come together to take on China . Now is the time to hit on the nexus between Russia and China .
Big power like England , Germany , Italy , France and USA can not leave the countries like Taiwan , Ukraine to be the worst victim of Russia and China like countries .
This is the ultimate crisis period and the world should be united together for the sake of global peace and stability .
0 Comments