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UK parliament calls Taiwan ‘independent country’ as Cleverly visits China (www.politico.eu)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The British parliament has for the first time referred to Taiwan as an "independent country" in an official document, breaking a political taboo as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visits China this week.

The new language, adopted in a report published Wednesday by the influential foreign affairs committee of the House of Commons, risks a stinging backlash from Beijing and comes as Cleverly becomes the first top British envoy to visit Beijing in five years amid a frosty relationship.

Beijing has long denied Taiwan's statehood, insisting the self-governing democratic island is part of its territory. Only 13 countries around the world recognize Taipei instead of Beijing diplomatically.

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[+] [email protected] 55 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

[deleted]

[-] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago

uhh yeah, so anyway, this is good news for Taiwan because they have a MASSIVE country on their doorstep that has been threatening to invade for decades now, and having another powerful country recognise their existence is great because it discourages mainland China from invading.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The thing about that is when those rebels have held the territory for nearly a lifespan, gotten international recognition and diplomacy, built one of the strongest militaries and armies in the world, and quite frankly it’s unthinkable to imagine a situation in which they lose the mainland without a world war level conflict then they’re just like a country. It doesn’t matter that neither is willing to cede the other’s existence. The ROC can be the ROC all it wants, but from an international perspective the country that has the most claim to mainland China is the People’s Republic of China. Both are runner up in claim to the territory the other holds, but boots on either’s ground is closer to a cascade to worldwide MAD than anybody seems comfortable with.

Maybe I’m wrong but I’ve always figured taiwanian independence not to mean a name change but a mutual agreement of the other’s sovereignty over the territory they each hold and have for decades. Or in practical terms, the ROC admits it isn’t getting Beijing back and the PRC agrees to not try to conquer the island of Taiwan. Really calling it this and not a Chinese peace treaty is mostly just an acknowledgement of how ludicrously lopsided this conflict is without international support for the ROC

[-] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

Yep ironically it's the autonomous mainland provinces which are stubbornly refusing to declare independence from the Republic of China. The ROC won't stop them, they only have to want it. I mean quite a number of KMT folks would whinge but they'd accept it.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Both are illegitimate rebels, bring back Ming dynasty.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

You dare risk the wrath of the Great Khan?!?!

[-] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

/thread

[-] [email protected] -4 points 10 months ago

Based

[-] [email protected] 53 points 10 months ago

Good. Taiwan is a country. They have a military, they make their own laws, they have their own passports, and (unlike China) they elect their government leaders.

[-] [email protected] 37 points 10 months ago

What?! China has election too. Not only that, the congress will elect the president on behalf of their citizen so their citizen don't need to waste their time going to election booth. Very convenient! Even the ballot only contains one candidate so there is no confusion when casting vote.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Yes but in USA we call it electoral college

[-] flambonkscious 6 points 10 months ago

That's hilarious, well done!

[-] [email protected] 29 points 10 months ago

It's worth pointing out that James Cleverly is the most inappropriately named person ever.

I wouldn't put it past them to have just accidentally released that document without thinking about the consequences.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

May have been accidental, but it's also possible that his department is trolling him, like the transport guys when they restricted travel from Spain to the UK just as soon as their boss, then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps arrived there on holiday.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

He's also the MP for Braintree in Essex. He's the definitive disproof of the nominative determinism hypothesis if I've ever seen one!

[-] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

Well, here's to hoping that they don't back pedal this statement immediately.

[-] Aurenkin 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Bit of bing chilling normally sorts it out

[-] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Bing chilling meaning chilling while using Bing (aka watching porn)?

[-] Aurenkin 3 points 10 months ago

I was referring to John China

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

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[-] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

They should because this needlessly upsets the status quo and puts Taiwan at risk because it forces China to escalate so they can continue to pretend to own Taiwan.

The British Parliament didn't do this because they care about Taiwan, they did it to score brownie points at home.

[-] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

When Britain first, at Heaven's command

this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023

341 points (99.1% liked)

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