Regular earthquakes is testing.
Way easier than becoming bilingual English/Chinese!
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The interesting thing about the (majority) coastal Fujianese migrants and their descendants populating Taiwan: these guys have long been connected to the outside world through migration and trade. They’ve arguably had more in common with the outside world than with the overlords far away in Beijing. The international outlook here is certainly tied to American presence since 1945 but it may also be part of the majority’s cultural/historical DNA.
Guy
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You can only hope if that ever happens that the nearby countries will allow people to flee and reside there temporary. Although I don’t believe China will invade any time soon it is best to prepare for the best and the worst case scenario.
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Absolutely. The first years of RoC in Taiwan was a racket. The economy was comandeered to fund the Civil War effort and not least, for private corruption gains, including trading with the enemy. Took many years for the post-45 economy to recover.
This. The KMT narrative that they were architects of Taiwan’s economic take-off disregards the fact that this “take-off” was simply recovering from and climbing out of the economic pit the same KMT had created. 
Guy
Triggered much? What is your fucking problem? If you are worried about a war, get the fuck out before a war breaks out. It’s just logic.
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Taiwan has paid for American weapons at high prices for years. There are no are virtually no US troops here. In a way they are paying.
The US also stopped Taiwans nuclear weapon program in Yang Ming mountain. The Taiwanese should have ignored them and developed nukes of their own.
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Taiwan COULD develop nuclear power and then develop the capacity to use them in a manner of months. This is what Korea and Japan do.
We’ll see how Tsai’s successor approaches this problem.
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No. I don’t know any economist or political science professor who seriously believes this.
The entire IT industry was a long thought-out plan decades in the making.
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i have a different interpretation - when they first came, the KMT thought it was temporary, that WW3 will start soon and the USA will win China back for them. Hence, they didnt invest anything in the poor and underdeveloped province that TW was.
after they realized they will have to stay here longer than planned (especially after the death of CKS) they started planning the recovery.
I always find this analogy problematic. The reality is the US wouldn’t need to react to China’s bases in Barbados or Canada because there’s no chance in hell these countries would allow China to have a base in their countries because the US is a good neighbour. Russia and China’s neighbours want US bases because Russia and China are trash neighbours. If Russia and China were benevolent nobody would want a US base in their country. The scenarios are not comparable at all.
And the US never invaded Cuba.
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I am still dreaming of a third solution along the lines of China allowing Taiwan to declare independence, then both sides entering a two-state union (could be named Greater China/大中華 or something) allowing close and friendly cooperation between the two on many fronts, maybe even military in the distant future.
Not going to happen anytime soon, but I think’s it’s worth thinking about the possibilities.
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Haven’t exactly been Good Neighbors.
No, but that was a very long time ago and the US never invaded Cuba.
Why would Taiwan enter a two-state union with a piece of trash?
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It’s a dream. Taiwan wants to be a recognized nation. Under what conditions would China agree to that? I know, nobody trusts China at this point.
Yeah US is a fucking awesome neighbor to Cuba. Great budz 4 Eva!
The US took advantage of a weak Asia and China to coerce countries into its postwar global system. It probably wouldn’t be able to do that now.
That’s a cautionary tale for the US. Treat a neighbour poorly and they turn to their enemy. After that the US has been a benevolent neighbour to all its neighbours, which is reflected on the fact that other than Cuba no country in the Caribbean has ever been interested in hosting any Chinese or Russian base. To say less about Mexico and Canada. If China and Russia weren’t always trash to their neighbours, there would be no US base in Asia and Europe.
Other than China and North Korea, I think most Asian countries are more than happy to stay in the US global system than the alternative.
Yeah now they do.
Let’s not pretend that the US hasn’t acted as an empire since WW2. I’m happy enough with Pax Americana as the best option, but understand why china isn’t happy being contained.
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How ya think the U.S. has Guantanamo Bay Naval Base where tortures go on?
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