"Mainland"? Which Mainland?

What’s false about it? The majority of both Polish and Russians citizens are Slavic people, doesn’t mean they like each other at all either.

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In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence ( SOI ) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity.[ citation needed ]

From Sphere of influence - Wikipedia

I admit wikipedia is not the most reliable source, but it should be good enough in this case :wink:

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You’re saying I’m right, right? I think I’m right but I was wrong once before.

That’s why I don’t get why mao claimed to be an IR major. I’m a POLS major too. This is fairly basic stuff. The belt and road initiative is a great example of how China is working to expand its sphere of influence in Asia. Sending attack aircraft into Taiwan airspace every day, not so much…

I don’t know.
I’m still trying to understand the definition of “influence” and “exclusivity”.

Does China have impact in Taiwan’s:

  • Culture? Yes. There’s a big overlap of knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits.
  • Economic? Yes. Who can deny Taiwan’s economically dependency of China?
  • Military? Yes. If not by China’s threats, Taiwan wouldn’t have the military it current does.
  • Political? Yes. From local to national political discussion, China is always a hot topic.

Now, does “influence” means A) “impacting”? or B) “making decisions on behalf of”?
If A, you are wrong. If B, then you are right.
It seems that @Mao123 is interpreting one and you the other one.

I personally think it’s B, if we are talking about international relations, but I don’t know enough of the topic to pass value judgement.

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But surely it falls on the exclusivity part. Taiwan’s relations with China are all voluntary or incidental. Culturally by reasons of historical background only. Even economically Taiwan could decouple if it wanted to (and is, my company along with many others are moving factories to Vietnam).

Militarily it can’t be; the two countries are sworn enemies.

Same politically, China’s influence cannot be a direct one, unless the KMT gets back in power. Otherwise all it can do is snipe from the outside.

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Unless, of course, like the vast majority of the official world, they dont consider the issue between 2 countries.

…slowly creeps backwards into the darkness…

Ps. Is your company currently in China or Taiwan?

While we’re on the topic of nomenclature in the Chinese-speaking world, a word I often stumble across is “wumao”.

I find that casual usage of this term is becoming increasingly problematic. It has been stretched and thrown around to such an extent that it is now virtually meaningless. I take it, in it’s most literal sense, to mean those Chinese keyboard warriors who are paid to clog up internet comments sections with pro-China rhetoric. I have little doubt that these kind of troll farms actually exist (and not just in China).

But nowadays you daren’t even suggest that the issue might be more nuanced than: “USA good! China bad!” without someone jumping down your throat and calling you a “wumao”. I doubt any of these people genuinely believe that you are really doing the bidding of your Chinese paymasters. It’s just a convenient way to ignore an inconvenient point of view.

It’s unfortunate because it often precludes meaningful discussion.

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I kind of agree. Its usually like that with short conversations. But i think if you have more than 15 mins with a person, it is pretty easy to explain to a person your perspective, and they can have the chance to retort. In this case wumao could be explained clearly as to its definition and so on.

Though to be 100% honest, if a person is having a slightly longer conversation on philosophy/politics etc (and it isnt just random complaints and drivel), there is little reason to use the word wumao, as it lowers the stance of the argument. Its better to give the enemy the respect of their titles and shit kick them based on that, not face save and call out the wumao…which tends to inadvertently give excuses for the same group to deny and separate themselves from that 5 cent douchery. I stopped giving them the easy way out of being 5 cent cucks. Right up to the billionaires, they are all tyrants (if they are supporting tyranny) and they ought to be called out for what they are. If they dont like being called a tyrant, stop being one. Simple. I have love and hope for my poor, rich chinese friends across the sea. I hope they can endure, work harder on their education and someday be able to aspire to our level of achievements here in taiwan.

Aka. Passive agressive, belittling, calling out but not name calling. Equally as petty, yet 100x more effective. Make them self reflect why people think they are fucking rerarded. But do so in a way that makes them feel you genuinely worry for their benefit and they gain a kind of anxiety about how people are judgung them. Otherwise, why say wumao at all? Just say fuck you and save a few extra breathes, end result is the same.

Taiwan. Manufacturing in Kunshan.

Heard that Kunshan is hollowing out with Taiwanese these days. One show listen to said that there are less than 30,000 Taiwanese left there from over a Hundred thousand a decade ago

No real option. China is fraught with infrastructure issues.

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-999,999,999,999 social credit points :laughing:

Hahaha. For real. @the_bear hope you dont fly there anymore, your real name is readily available on this site :wink: Might want to be a bit careful. Though i hear in chinas mainland the rape aint half as bad as in places were real men reign. (talking about jail and oppressing freedom, in case any snowflakes are insulted…)

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The entire world order hinges on the bears breakfast choices :laughing:

That’s not my real name. That’s one of my aliases. I’m an international man of misery.

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Like John Oliver, without being funny?

Seemed pretty bad, leaning towards chinas narrative about it being a self ruled island and avoiding saying anythig about the reality of taiwans actual reality and being a country. I expected more from them :frowning: I give it a 2/10.

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Interesting perspective.

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Most of it is pretty much the official position of the KMT from the 80s to the 90s, which the KMT has abandoned in favor of getting sweet cash from the PRC.

Except for the part where Former General Yu talked about the US’ One China Policy, and he is right on the money. One China Policy means the US recognizes the PRC as the official representative of China, but doesn’t agree Taiwan is a part of China.

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