I agree energy policy continues to be an important part of policy debate.
Regarding the “independence” stuff . . . would you rather have our president hand over the keys to Beijing? They are only guys trying to take away the keys, as they already did with HK and Macau.
Guy
Taiwan has no means to defend themselves if china wants to take the keys by force and if the US will not help (this is far from certain). Lots of people will die in the process. No taiwanese wants that. No one in the military wants to die for it either.
Taiwan is dependent on the goodwill of the fickle nature of US elections.
There are countless ways to defend ourselves and our way of life. Taking over Taiwan by invasion is hard—like really hard. The onus would be on Beijing to do so. Too bad they seem to have alienated many of their neighbours including but not limited to Japan. If Beijing tries something, we will not be fighting alone.
Guy
They can strangle Taiwan economically. The US will do exactly nothing about that. Japan might do something, not sure what though. Japan has no credible military.
The disinformation campaign is working
All china has to do is stop coal shipment into Taiwan right in the middle of summer. No ac and people will get extremely grumpy.
No one dares strangle Taiwan economically. Not in the open at least and that means we have room to maneuver and can come out on top if we play our cards right.
Uhh…ya. that’s the point. But instead of a discussion based on politics, I am looking for reasons in every day life people support such decisions and the people making them. Coming from a “living I taiwan” perspective rather than a “political” discussion.
Literally everything in any country is a political discussion if we get down to it. What food we eat, how traffic works, schooling, pollution, wages, equality and etc etc. It’s all political. No friggen duh. The idea is to talk about it from the end user, about why they like this style of gov is good. In this thread, it is indeed about the China Kuo Ming Tan and why people, in their everyday lives, feel they are improving their lives. From teachers getting huge benefits cut into slightly smaller benefits, or Han Guo Yu erecting pretty street lights in Kaohsiung city. What are the actual reasons people think this sect of society & governance is beneficial. either to them or us?
I’m not focusing on foreigners. But this post makes me curious:
I had no idea the China KMT was so pro foreigner. But this is why I made the thread. I am incredibly curious to see what @ChewDawg thinks…my experience has been the exact opposite! The only foreigners I see them super friendly towards are the Chinese.
I want to learn more 
Why isn’t there a statue of Reagan in Taiwan? Or such a photo as there is for Marx in China of Reagan for Taiwan? No Reagan, no democratization, no DPP.
I call them by the name they chose for themselves, out of respect. I may not like them, but I call them what they wish to be called out of basic decency…it’s absolutely not “whatever I want to call it”. That’s their actual name. And we should use it more. If anything, to be fair and clear.
Edit. Source: https://www.kmt.org.tw
Literally their own brand. I’m just calling them what they choose to be called
Anyway. What of people living in tiawna and how these folks affect your life here?
I started a new thread to reflect the living in Taiwan aspect, as this thread turned political fast, rather than life oriented. Perhaps the new wording is more easily accepted and we can talk about how our life in Taiwan is affected by this sect (CKMT) of society.
It’s their actual name. I agree, cringey as fuck. But wasn’t my choice.
You should know, people of my dad’s age (baby boomers) who were gov. workers/soldiers/etc. didn’t exactly get a choice if they joined the KMT or not. If you wanted to do well in those line of work, you joined the KMT. My dad however believes every single propaganda the KMT says, however on the other hand he tells me to keep all political opinions to myself, act as if someone’s listening and will do something no matter how free the country you’re in is. So maybe secretly he hates the KMT and thinks they’re corrupt as hell, but trusts no one with that opinion.
Also, KMT’s governance before 1992 was almost no different than China’s governance.
Great points. How’s that work out today, though?
I think in 2024, that is exactly the problem. But I want to hear more why you think this is a good thing. Can you elaborate why this may be a net positive for the nation of taiwan? I understand a few people benefit quite a lot. But on a national level, what are the long term perks of what you say?
I think we need a balance, but on the other hand party is just a label and individual politicians can call themselves whatever just to stay in power, like the US Democrats and Republicans. People just vote along party line based on what they have always voted, this is a proven fact. Policy statement doesn’t matter.
But we do not need a single party state, whether it’s KMT or DPP or any other party. So if we get another KMT president, it shakes things up.
So what are the objective positives in your life that would make you support the CKMT party? That’s the question. How have they benefited you? Especially in a fair way. Any thoughts on that aspect of just a guy, living in taiwan. And objective bettering of your surroundings? What are the good aspects? Most posts are about China, which just reinforces the scary part about the China Kuo Ming Tan.
We need a shake up.
It’s probably those shake up that caused the DPP or KMT mayors to have stuff like TPASS.
Back then when there was no TPASS/monthly MRT passes, it was expensive to use the MRT, not to mention wages were much lower.
This IS a discussion on politics. What do you think politics is?
Well… no. What my favourite car is, is not a political discussion. How public policy affects your life is a political discussion.
How I get to work is not a political discussion. How Hou You Ih’s policies make it difficult for people to take public transit is.
Yes. This is still a political discussion. I like (or vote for) the conservatives because… such and such. I vote democrat in Italy because I like their track record on reducing corruption.
It’s still a political discussion.
Again, it’s still a political discussion no matter what.
The whole point of a political discussion is to see what other people think about the policy decisions that affect our lives.
We have our forums separated and segregated so that members here can customise their experience and read and respond to what they want to and enjoy the site on their terms. There is a reason why I don’t allow politics in the food forums. There is no separating politics from political figures/policies/organisations.
Its really a question on geopolitics. Taiwan is the usa bargaining chip. They already played it once in the 70s to help win the cold war by turning china against the soviets by declaring one china policy.
The usa can play the taiwan card again by salami slicing to independence which they know will provoke a war.
The usa would then freeze all chinese assests in the usa, apply sanctions, cut off chinese world trade. Doing real damage to china’s economy and canceling a serous amount of usa debt.
The usa would not come to taiwans aid directly, however it would sell as much weapons as possible. The usa needs Taiwanese to fight as long as possible to enable sanctions etc to bite.
Taiwan and its people would suffer vast losses in a protracted war and would still lose. This is a mathematical certainty.
The dpp is the party with the usa connections that is tasked to push this independence agenda to war.
Kmt does not have a war agenda. Thats why me and my wife and her family are kmt.
