Thoughts?
Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn’t it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?
Thoughts?
Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn’t it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?
They lost a civil war and retreated from the land. How is that a better claim?
Xi’s claim to legitimacy is based on the threat of violence. The President of Taiwan’s legitimacy is based on being chosen by the people. It’s called Consent; something the Beijing regime has always lacked and been indifferent to.
Winning an election in Taiwan doesn’t give them a claim to mainland China. This isn’t relevant.
And not winning any elections doesn’t give Xi Jinping any claim to mainland China either.
Winning the civil war and controlling the land does.
Being a conqueror doesn’t give you a legitimate claim to anything. We decided a century ago to leave that Imperialism bullshit in the past but I guess some people can’t let it go.
What we as we want and what is real are two different things. We do business and perform politics with many authoritarians and will continue with no end in sight. Some of us live in reality.
And that’s exactly why the world can’t have nice things.
I’m finding it difficult to continue because you’ve abandoned political analysis for moral truisms. We began by discussing the objective sources of legitimacy and statehood, but you’ve retreated into a ‘Gish Gallop’ of emotional appeals.
Whether or not you like a regime’s methods doesn’t change the reality of its statehood or its control over a territory. Since you’re no longer engaging with the central argument of how states actually function in reality, there’s nowhere left for this conversation to go.