The Taiwan-China dispute explained, and where the US fits in | Start Here

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As a American Navy veteran I completely reject defending Taiwan under any circumstance and I actively vote against anyone advocating we do.

Good job al jazeera. Balanced, informative, and not full of propoganda. Most issues are not black and white like how western media likes to potray it.

The elephant in the room is: Taiwan is the name of an island. It is a geological term. It is not a nation. Its government is Republic of China, which has the constitution that claims the whole of China, including both Mainland China and Taiwan. It is currently under suspended civil war with Mainland China, whose government is People's Republic of China, which also claims the whole of China. That are legal facts. It is not about freedom or democracy or independence. You can go independent. You can go freedom. You can go democracy. But you need to go through the process of settling the civil war and reconcile the claims. It is like saying, "I am a nice guy. So I deserve to have this house where I live in." No you don't. That house has a claim on it. You also have a claim on it. There is no doubt about that. But your brother has a claim on it, EVEN IF HE NEVER SET FOOT ON THE HOUSE. He has a claim! You can not use other concepts like "I am nice." "I love freedom." "I am peaceful." "He is awful" as judgement for the claim. Only legal facts have meaningful result. Not feeling. So both sides need to resume the Civil War and settle. Or they can talk peacefully and settle. But both sides need to settle, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

As someone joked "If the Chinese land in Taiwan, would the USA be able to tell the difference between the 2 sides?

As a person of Chinese descent who would have preferred if the KMT won the war and not the CPC I will say this: This strictly a family issue between the Republic of China and The People's Republic of China. In none of their names is 'America' written so they should mind their own business and let the Chinese living on both sides of the straight sort this out themselves. Also good job on being as unbiased as possible in this video, many people conveniently leave out facts pertinent to this issue such as a very simple fact of the very name of Taiwan itself. It IS the Republic of China (officially, on passports etc etc) and any way you slice it is Chinese no matter what insane mental gymnastics some in the West apply when viewing this issue.

I studied in Taiwan during the 90's at the same university (National Chengchi) as the associate professor in the video. At that time, Taiwan had just held its first presidential election. My roommate talked about going to the top of a mountain so that they could see the missiles from the mainland falling into the ocean in the distance. The political landscape was more fractured with more parties to choose from and the locals would tell you which taxis to take, or avoid, according to your political affiliation. Going to the mainland was still a big deal and the stories of reunited families who had been separated for over 40 years since the revolution were still common in the media and amongst locals. Now Taiwanese live and work in the mainland regularly and many have even married and set up households on both sides. The politics is still fraught and yet, on the people side, they are closer than they were for a long time. Cross-straight relations are complicated, and anyone who tries to simplify the situation is either naive or pushing an agenda.

I would also like to add one more point: Don’t think Taiwan is too innocent. When Taiwan was first separated from China in 1949, Taiwan had a seat in the United Nations and had better economic, military and Western support. They could have declared independence at that time, and China had no ability to stop it at that time. But why didn't this happen? The fact is that Taiwan identifies as one country with China, and its goal is to counterattack the mainland and regain control of China. When it was stronger, it kept sending military planes to threaten the mainland. But now, when it was weaker, it began to seek independence, shouting about so-called peace. In other words, Taiwan essentially identifies with the mainland as the same country. The Taiwan issue is actually China's internal affairs. The current situation is completely unilaterally shaped by the United States for its own benefit. As the Taiwanese government changes textbooks and demonizes China, a new generation of young people gradually loses their understanding of history and culture, making peaceful reunification increasingly difficult.

A simple analogy is if China started spending billions of dollars on arming Hawaii and funding Separatist elements to declare the island's independence from the US. How would America react to such actions?

THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOUTUBE! EXCELLENT CONTENT AND RIGHT ON TIME. THANK YOU.

But here's the crucial question: Why is the US entitled to interfere in China's domestic matter with regards to Taiwan? Who made the US the governor of the world?

So, all the responsibility lies with the United States. The U.S. government opposes full reunification of China while not supporting Taiwan's independence. It aims to make the Taiwan issue a major headache for China

Why is the answer to every conflict or stand off "thus, we have to buy more US made weapons"😭

the USA is like that one person in your friend group who no one likes, but who keeps trying to force themselves into every conversation and every event

Balanced summary of the political background. But you have think deeper why on earth would US risk WW3 to defend Taiwan in the first place. It's no longer about communism, despite the propaganda. You didn't touch on the importance/benefit to US for Taiwan to remain outside China's control. We all know that China is a serious and possibly only rival to US's global economic power and overall hegemony. Taiwan's advanced semiconductor industry is one reason. Another is the geo-strategic position of Taiwan. The line of American military bases and allies stretching from South Korea to Japan to Taiwan to the Philippines forms a unbroken net that prevents China from projecting it's power into the Pacific Ocean. Think of the Pacific Ocean as chessboard and US has it's row of pawns right up there lined right across his opponent's front door preventing him from even stepping out of his own half. If Taiwan falls into China's hands, it's going to be a very big 'hole' in the net.

One has to go check Taiwan's Constitution before making any comment...... Commenting before reading through Taiwan's Constitution is like a cow talking nonsense ..... Taiwan's Constitution states that Taiwan's territories include many China mainland provinces and even Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu ...... and the city where Xi Jing Pin is living now....

In fact, the split between mainland China and Taiwan originated from the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in 1949. The two sides never declared an armistice or signed any peace agreement. In other words, legally speaking, the civil war has not stopped, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are still in a hostile state of war. This is the current situation in the Taiwan Strait. Any attack by the mainland on Taiwan cannot be considered as a one-sided change of the status quo, because the war has never really ended. .

An objective facts-telling story, thanks!

If I understand correctly, this is the fair between PRC and ROC. Why would US interfere their affairs and increase tension?

It started very badly if you don't introduce the history that ROC and PRC were in an eight-year Chinese civil war, ROC lost and fled to Taiwan province in 1949 stealing all reserves of gold, foreign exchange and silver that belong to all Chinese people. The US sent its aircraft carrier to the Taiwan Strait to stop PRC from taking Taiwan back, and has been in between ever since. In 1971, UN general assembly voted for PRC to replace ROC as the sole legal gov of China and took the seat for China at the security council. 183 out of 194 countries in the world recognize PRC as the legal government of China instead of ROC. In 1979, the US and China established diplomatic relations on condition that the US recognizes there is only one China and PRC is the sole legal government of China. But subsequently, US regime changed/brain washed Taiwanese and uses Taiwan as a proxy against PRC. If you don't want your country split by others, please refuse to support separatists--I am sure there will be people who take issues with "belonging to your country", which doesn't change the fact that Taiwan is part of China. It needs to be clarified that Taiwan is not a country, it is a province in China (either PRC or ROC governs China, Taiwan is part of China).