wonderboy416
Active Member
Taiwan exists in a grey area. For all intents and purposes, it operates as a completely sovereign nation. They have their own elections, own military, own healthcare, own industries (the semi conductor capital of the world), passports that are universally accepted around the world etc.
Thanks to the pull of China they are only recognized as an independent nation by a handful of countries. They must compete in events such as the Olympics as "Chinese Taipei" and cannot fly their own flag or play their anthem.
The Chinese gov't recognizes it as only a special region and still considers it a province (although the Taiwanese gov't operates completely independently of theirs). This is an ultra-sensitive issue for the Chinese and Taiwanese. The Chinese receive a censored version of reality, and the Taiwanese are conflicted, although the majority favour not returning to China.
To me it just seems weird that such a highly advanced country that has shown the entire world how to go from third world to first in a couple of decades doesn't receive proper recognition for being their own nation. They did it with no help from "mother China". Their people are free, enjoy terrific access to first-rate education and health care, they have an unusually high employment rate and are on the cutting edge of technology.
The obvious answer is to let them sort out their differences... however if it weren't for China using their position as a bully in the past Taiwan would have been its own independent nation long, long ago.
Thanks to the pull of China they are only recognized as an independent nation by a handful of countries. They must compete in events such as the Olympics as "Chinese Taipei" and cannot fly their own flag or play their anthem.
The Chinese gov't recognizes it as only a special region and still considers it a province (although the Taiwanese gov't operates completely independently of theirs). This is an ultra-sensitive issue for the Chinese and Taiwanese. The Chinese receive a censored version of reality, and the Taiwanese are conflicted, although the majority favour not returning to China.
To me it just seems weird that such a highly advanced country that has shown the entire world how to go from third world to first in a couple of decades doesn't receive proper recognition for being their own nation. They did it with no help from "mother China". Their people are free, enjoy terrific access to first-rate education and health care, they have an unusually high employment rate and are on the cutting edge of technology.
The obvious answer is to let them sort out their differences... however if it weren't for China using their position as a bully in the past Taiwan would have been its own independent nation long, long ago.