China’s Army posts “Preparing for war!”

I'd do a bit of reading if I were you.

Beijing despise the DPP party currently running the show because they are not bought my mainland interests. The DPP are politcally in the ascendancy, and it will likely stay that way with voter sentiment under 60s definatively identifying as Taiwanese first.

Beijing placed all their bets on the KMT, many of the senior leadership who they have bought off or coerced. They (Beijing) run voter interference campaigns come electoral time doing their best to boost KMT candidates. They also pay off triad and organised crime outfits to astroturf community groups as pro mainland / unification and to buy off pensioners (just about the only demographic left that vote KMT consistently).

Luckily for Taiwan, their security services know CCP tactics better than anyone, have a massive network of informants in the PRC and know exactly what Beijing get up to at all times.

Taiwanese, and particularly young Taiwanese massively favour visits from Pelosi and the likes. They do not regard a foreign politician visiting as "stoking tension" and would laugh a Western know-nothing for suggesting as such when the reality is the PLA has their missile batteries trained on them.

This may stun and apall some contributors here, but Taiwan is the last place in the Chinese speaking world where you can do and say what you please. You can carry a sandwich board in downtown Taipei that reads "Tsai Ing Wen is an American running dog" and no one pays you the blindest bit of bother (in fact, they know well kooks like that are poor people paid to be there by shady characters, no one is genuinely stupid enough to think that). It's a remarkable democracy and one of a kind in Asia. It should (and will) be defended at all costs, and that's just the moral imperative aspect.

Regretably, in the PRC, "the public" are told what to think about Taiwan from a very young age. You're not going to get a divergance of opinion, because wrongthink on this can land you in serious bother.

Where are you doing the bit of reading from yourself?

Just interested

A presentation at the start from Audrey Tang (digital minister in Taiwan and savant) about PRC interference and disinformation campaigns in Taiwan.

She is a bit difficult to listen to and speaks rather rapidly, but you get a sense of how radically different Taiwan and the PRC are poltically and in outlook. I defy anyone after watching this that they seriously think Taiwan isn't worth defending.

It really is beginning to look like Europe is going to have to “play it’s role” with the US in arming and getting involved in global politics outside of simply using trade and financial penalties. The comittment to defence spending will probably end up multiples of what’s being touted, time to invest in weapons manufacturing !

If Xi is really in trouble of losing power then the Taiwan escalation makes sense, the question may be how far he might be willing to take it to hold onto power.

Most have don't have the balls that Pelosi has. A politician standing up for something they believe in is a rare thing in America

An American diplomat has travelled to Taiwan which is what has incensed the Chinese. Doesn’t matter what a person thinks of this action or who is right or wrong, USA is at the core of this subject whether you think China has no right to react like it does.

Well that’s not completely true either. The problem in these threads is that you get posters who are overly aggressive at either defending or attacking the USA. I mean you can’t even question potential US role and motives with the Ukraine situation , but part of the reason is the absolute line in the sand some people are taking on the topic. They can only see and discuss it in black and white as they see it.

There’s an awful of posters with great knowledge on these topics but they let their sentiments/emotions cloud rational discussion. Would be good to see an objectively balanced and open thread on USAs role without people childishly throwing insults about putinists or right wing or whatever and just discuss what is being said (instead of attacking the poster).

But that’s not the point. Why is America getting involved? I’m not looking to make this a USA bashing thread, I just think it’s not right to make a thread on the recent China/Taiwan tensions and suggest that USAs role and motives are somehow irrelevant.

That’s fine, so ignore them, don’t engage them. Posters like me who don’t engage in this stuff often and aren’t familiar with these posters, feel like there’s a “no discussion of USA in a negative way regardless of how involved they are in a topic” kind of rule. Then I get caught in the cross hairs and get accused of being one of these conspiracy theorists because some of you presume birds of a feather flock together and then I just don’t bother engaging.

We're all able to criticize the US. But there's utter morons who will blame the US in every circumstance when an autocrat covets their neighbour.

Taiwan is a case in point. The place only exists as a going concern, and a highly vibrant democracy and innovation powerhouse because they have been given the tools to defend themselves.

We have utter roasters, who just like the Ukraine situation, are perfectly willing to give people like Xi and Putin a free pass - men who are actively planning wars to crush democracies. And they'll focus on narrow conspiracy theories to jump up and down on the head of a pin.

It's brain dead swill. The US had nothing to do with Putin's decision to invade. He wanted Ukraine, and he went ahead and tried to take it.

The poster asked how many wars China was involved in as if they were Amish pacifists. They also got stuck in to Korea at the request of Stalin.

I gave him his answer. China does war, and it's preparing to do another one in the coveting of a democracy.

Wake up.

Would I rather the Americans disengage? Where is that question coming from? I’ve not once here insinuated anything that should or should not happen, all I’ve said is that I think you can’t discuss the topic without discussing americas role in it.

Because dumb posts deserve disdain.

This isn't a knitting circle. Soemtimes crap needs to be called out for what it is.

Check your dates on the Korean war. And you said 70 years not 60, and you got your answer.

If Taiwan is 'part of China', then why are they acting like scum threatening war?