Taiwan Votes for Independence

[Unkotare]

Taiwan Presidential Election Live Results 2024

See the results of Taiwan’s presidential election

www.bloomberg.com

Voters in Taiwan made clear today that they value their independence and have no interest in becoming part of the communist dictatorship on the mainland. Good for them, I say. We need to elect a president who respects and defends this.

 

[The Duke]

Taiwan Presidential Election Live Results 2024

See the results of Taiwan’s presidential election

www.bloomberg.com

Voters in Taiwan made clear today that they value their independence and have no interest in becoming part of the communist dictatorship on the mainland. Good for them, I say. We need to elect a president who respects and defends this.

Can they hang on until potato's out of there?

I knew this was coming.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

China is going to invade Taiwan. It’s just a matter of when.

 

[The Duke]

China is going to invade Taiwan. It’s just a matter of when.

Something many people don't understand is that if they do, it will be scorched earth.

The Tiawanese are dead serious about that thing.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Taiwan Presidential Election Live Results 2024

See the results of Taiwan’s presidential election

www.bloomberg.com

Voters in Taiwan made clear today that they value their independence and have no interest in becoming part of the communist dictatorship on the mainland. Good for them, I say. We need to elect a president who respects and defends this.

The problem is that the other two Parties received 60% of the vote. They had almost formed a coalition but couldn't. Then it would have been a Pro-China victory Chinas propaganda and fear capaign has scared too many it would appear.

 

[The Duke]

The problem is that the other two Parties received 60% of the vote. They had almost formed a coalition but couldn't. Then it would have been a Pro-China victory Chinas propaganda and fear capaign has scared too many it would appear.

They have infiltrators in the country. I remember seeing a Tiawanese reporter years ago, and he had a crew hunting him.

People were hiding him at their own peril. That was actually during Covid where they literally welded apartment

building doors shut.

 

[Auld Phart]

Taiwan Presidential Election Live Results 2024

See the results of Taiwan’s presidential election

www.bloomberg.com

Voters in Taiwan made clear today that they value their independence and have no interest in becoming part of the communist dictatorship on the mainland. Good for them, I say. We need to elect a president who respects and defends this.

Biden: US does not support Taiwan independence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday the United States does not support the independence of Taiwan, after Taiwanese voters rebuffed China and gave the ruling party a third presidential term. Earlier in the day, the Taiwanese ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP)...

www.yahoo.com

 

[excalibur]

 

[Calypso Jones]

Biden does not support Taiwan independence.

 

[The Duke]

Biden does not support Taiwan independence.

He doesn't support anything good, so that's no surprise.

 

[Bleipriester]

Taiwan, Donezk or Luhansk - the will of the people should be respected.

 

[Yarddog]

If the free world loses Taiwan, its going to be a sad day. We would lose much more than that technology.
Its about a negative as tearing down the Berlin wall was a positive for the world.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Unkotare should know better than to push the rather misleading and oversimplified headline for this OP: “Taiwan Votes for Independence.” I have no objection to the content of his comment, however, as it is clear the vast majority of Taiwanese do not want to fall under the dictatorial control of XiJinping’s “cult of personality” or of the Communist Party of China.

The Bloomberg link said no such thing about “voting for independence.” In truth all three parties are more or less all for trying to preserve the status quo, which has allowed Taiwan to thrive economically, develop its own democracy, remain politically self-governing, trade with China and the world … without internationally recognized “independent” status.

All this diplomatic fancy dancing may seem unimportant, but Taiwan’s real independence depends in large part on the support of the U.S., which in my view correctly maintains a strategic ambiguity about what it would actually do in case of a kinetic conflict over Taiwan.

I believe that Taiwan’s political independence is best maintained by the U.S. continuing to refrain from recognizing Taiwan as formally independent, as it has for many decades. The U.S. has long supported and supposedly still supports the “One China” policy negotiated between the U.S. and China, and those “cowboys” in Congress who favor changing this policy are, imo, truly begging for war.

The DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) is a liberal, essentially social-democratic party, and while it again won the Presidency, it did so this time with only about 40% of the vote. It actually just lost its control of Taiwan’s unicameral legislature. The DPP position is of course unabashedly pro-Western, pro-U.S. and pro-liberal democracy. Since it first came to power under Chen Sui-bian it has itself followed different and often subtle policies on declaring independence, usually hedging its own position by not “declaring” its independence but merely pointing out that it is in fact de facto independent and sovereign already. In fact it argues it can best preserve the status quo, as also do the opposition KMT and TPP, which together received about 60% of the vote.

So the issue is complex. Not formally recognized as an independent sovereign state by the UN, China, or even the West, it clearly is not in the same category as Ukraine, though the U.S. is now seeking to arm it to the teeth and even providing arms for free, something never before done.

The biggest difference between the Taiwanese political parties may in fact be their attitude toward trade relations with China. China wants to buy up Taiwanese media and publishing houses and of course resents the U.S. putting pressure on Taiwanese chip firms not to sell high tech chips to its biggest trade partner on the Mainland.

XiJinping would rather “buy than bomb” Taiwan, so this is where the ambiguous line between the KMT and DPP policies toward the Mainland often get drawn in fact.

 

[Unkotare]

Unkotare should know better than to push the rather misleading and oversimplified headline for this OP: .......

Nothing misleading about the OP.

 

[odanny]

Taiwan is living on borrowed time. They are a brilliant example of how freedom of thought and freedom of action can make a peaceful and productive society, and this is anathema to the authoritarian communists who are sworn to their removal by force.

 

[Blaster]

China is going to invade Taiwan. It’s just a matter of when.

Taiwan is a sovereign country.

 

[Zebra]

Taiwan Presidential Election Live Results 2024

See the results of Taiwan’s presidential election

www.bloomberg.com

Voters in Taiwan made clear today that they value their independence and have no interest in becoming part of the communist dictatorship on the mainland. Good for them, I say. We need to elect a president who respects and defends this.

good luck to them!

 

[dblack]

Something many people don't understand is that if they do, it will be scorched earth.

The Tiawanese are dead serious about that thing.

Which is why China probably won't invade. They're very dependent on Taiwan as a trading partner.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Taiwan is living on borrowed time. They are a brilliant example of how freedom of thought and freedom of action can make a peaceful and productive society, and this is anathema to the authoritarian communists who are sworn to their removal by force.

Taiwanese society is truly a fine example for China as a whole, and its democracy and individual liberties are both anathema to the Communist Party of China and XiJinping in particular. Mainlanders are indoctrinated to strongly favor re-unification of the “Great Chinese Nation” … but there is not much authentic hostility toward Taiwan and its people, and there is widespread admiration for the island’s culture.

It is also not true that the Communists are “sworn to their removal by force.” Far from it. The CPC would much prefer a peaceful reunification or, as that seems impossible at present, to simply buy out or gain decisive influence over Taiwan’s foreign policy. What Chinese CPC leaders probably can’t tolerate over the long term is a Taiwan that acts as a base for U.S. geopolitical power.

Our interests are in keeping something resembling the status quo in Taiwan … until China itself undergoes a political transformation toward a more democratic system — which would end up accepting Taiwan’s independence or even adopting many of its features. This will not happen overnight, needless to say.

 

[odanny]

Taiwanese society is truly a fine example for China as a whole, and its democracy and individual liberties are both anathema to the Communist Party of China and XiJinping in particular. Mainlanders are indoctrinated to strongly favor re-unification of the “Great Chinese Nation” … but there is not much authentic hostility toward Taiwan and its people, and there is widespread admiration for the island’s culture.

It is also not true that the Communists are “sworn to their removal by force.” Far from it. The CPC would much prefer a peaceful reunification or, as that seems impossible at present, to simply buy out or gain decisive influence over Taiwan’s foreign policy. What Chinese CPC leaders probably can’t tolerate over the long term is a Taiwan that acts as a base for U.S. geopolitical power.

Our interests are in keeping something resembling the status quo in Taiwan … until China itself undergoes a political transformation toward a more democratic system — which would end up accepting Taiwan’s independence or even adopting many of its features. This will not happen overnight, needless to say.

A lot of good information in this post, and I agree completely with most of it, other than to differ with what China "wants" and what China will actually "do", of course they don't want to subjugate Taiwan, that would only alienate the Communist's from the population, the reason I don't see any "peaceful' reunification in the future is the increase in authoritarian tactics in China, making their government, by default, even more repressive in the future. With facial recognition technology and cameras almost everywhere, China can identify anyone and anything that can be considered "disloyal", and that does not bode well for Taiwan as the government cracks down further on its own citizenry.

The world should look to Taiwan for what a country can do that is focused on achievement and a peaceful government that respects its citizens and a peaceful transfer of power thru elections.