Taiwan’s airline is China Airlines, Taiwan’s banking is China Trust, Taiwan’s oil is China Petroleum, Taiwan’s communications are China Telecom; Taiwan speaks Chinese and has the same dialect as across the strait, Taiwan’s streets are named after mainland cities (unlike Hong Kong), the “local cuisine” is Chinese cuisine (and Taiwan competes in the Olympics as “Chinese Taipei”).

It’s strange you bring up Taiwan having “its own currency” when Hong Kong has the same and is by all accounts not an “independent country.” Obviously having one’s “own currency” does not automatically translate to national independence, and nearly every country, and the UN officially, recognizes Taiwan as a part of the PRC.

[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee -2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Thanks for sharing this. I've been there for 2 weeks and have spoken to people and they consider themselves as independent. There's a lot of flags regarding independence around Taipei 101. Maybe they're are all delusional, maybe they were lying to me? Whatever it is, I tend to support the small guy who is being bullied by the big one.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Try learning about the history instead of vibing.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

You're almost as good a comedian as Zelensky.

[–] lychee@lemmy.blahaj.zone -4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

two western keyboard warriors arguing over the fate of an island nation on the other side of the planet, having likely never spoken to a single inhabitant and likely never will

~~reddit~~ lemmy baby

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 days ago

weird way to say a province of China

[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee -3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Why do you assume I'm from the west? I've actually been to Taiwan and it's amazing. If you visit Taipei 101 you'll regularly see people with flags for independence. If it truly was China, they'll be jailed by now, but that doesn't happen.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

LOL, your brain is so rotten with propaganda. You believe China arrests people for speaking out, then you see people speaking out and not get arrested, so your first thought is - obviously this isn't China.

Mate, China imprisons far fewer people per Capita than the USA does. China handles protests far more peacefully than the USA does. China has a much more vibrant democracy than the USA does.

Taiwan is the equivalent of "the South will rise again" Americans who wave the Confederate flag. They are Chinese people living on an island after their leaders lost their civil war and the only reason it wasn't immediately brought back into the union is because UK and USA literally sent warships to prevent it from happening. Can you imagine if the confederates retreated to Long Island and then Germany and Russia sent warships to New York harbor to stop the union from integrating Long Island back into the union?

Learn some history.

[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Why are you again explaining Asian politics using American history to a non American? Who's even talking about America here?

I'm aware about the civil war, and I'm aware that since then Taiwan has been able to govern itself differently. In my visit I could clearly see it myself.

None of this makes it a part of PRC. American civil war is different in the sense that the Southern dream ended and they couldn't organise themselves elsewhere.

China literally threatened Taiwan just before my visit with their vessels. Are you sure they are peaceful with protests?

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/14/g-s1-28148/china-military-exercises-taiwan

Don't you remember how several celebrities had to apologise after they supported Taiwan.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/actor-john-cena-apologizes-after-taiwan-comment-n1268526

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

It literally has always been part of the nation-state of China. Literally the only thing that allowed the losers of the civil war to create a separatist society is UK/USA intervention, and they intervened because they knew the Red Army would support China's independence from Western hegemony and that the KMT did and would support Western hegemony. Taiwan exists as a separate entity because the North Atlantic empire is using it as a proxy.

Do you realize how close China is to Taiwan? China doing military exercises on the mainland is within striking distance of Taiwan. It is not violent for China to exercise in its own territory. The show of force is intended for the USA, you know, that state who was literally publishing military strategy about using Taiwan to complete its Pacific Kill Chain?

Your vibes don't really matter. Nor do the vibes you get when celebrities apologized for supporting a formerly-fascist currently-vassal community that exists primarily as a means to maintain Western hegemony over the region and particularly over the people and resources of China - a nation-state that includes the island of Taiwan.

[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thanks again for sharing this. I'll try to read more about this.

Of course I know how close it is, I was there. But the drills weren't casual drills obviously, they were in response to National Day celebration. It actually made us nervous about our trip.

A side note: I'm happy to learn more and understand different perspectives, however what's with ad hominem attacks of vibes, propaganda and all? You can share your thoughts without making it sound like a keyboard war.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 22 hours ago

Many of us, myself included, are a bit tired of ignorant people arguing with us as though they aren't ignorant. People who are clearly ignorant do not have a position to argue from except propaganda and vibes. And it's patently obvious who is ignorant because each person who is ignorant when they argue about a topic use the exact same talking points over and over again.

The things you said about Taiwan are things that have been said for years now. They never change. They are repeated ad nauseum. They are part of the big lie. And no matter how many times some of us study the issue and then share what we've learned, another person shows up, sometimes a whole clusterfuck of them, and just unashamedly parrots talking points they got from the same sources the last clusterfuck of people got them.

On this topic, and many others, the debate isn't about facts at all. It's about opinions, values, morality, ethics, and often violent intervention and those things are all based on false beliefs and ignorance. So when people come in saying "Taiwan deserves independence and the USA should protect them", it's not a problem of you need to learn so much as you're willing to come in here and tell people that you support violence on the basis of some narrative that you have not examined, have not spent time researching, and have not struggled through the difficulties of learning about. If you came in arguing facts, the conversation would be very different, but you, like many of us raised in liberal society, lead with vibes that we delude ourselves into thinking are facts.

It's exhausting. Apologies for being harsh with you. I highly recommend learning more.