[YorkshireSeason]

Wow, 50c party members trolls on HN (see [1])?

   Taiwan is the proof that 
   Chinese culture and democracy 
   don't mix well.

Could you elaborate on this wild claim? While you do so, please bear in mind that pretty much every authoritarian ruler ever in human has justified itself by claiming that his subjects are not ready for, or not interested in democracy.

Chiang Kai-shek rules Taiwan with an iron fist, and democratisation began for real only in the 1980s, including allowing free press, lifting bans on new political parties. Incidentally it was Chiang Ching-kuo, who was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as premier, see [2] for more detail. Taiwanese citizens are certainly very happy with their blossoming democracy, and are a shining beacon that the mainland will hopefully eventually follow.

   break into smaller counties like EU.

Why would it be a bad thing if China would split into smaller countries? Smaller countries are much less dangerous to their neighbours than big countries when they fail catastrophically (note that all countries fail catastrophically from time to time). BTW, The EU is composed of smaller countries, and a voluntary organisations. Maybe the mainland should charm Taiwan (and HK) into a voluntary union, rather than bully and terrorise?

(In fairness, it must be said that both, Mainland China, and the states making up the EU, have a long and violent history of warring states.)

[1] https://gking.harvard.edu/50C

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan#Democratization

[fatman13gg]

> Wow, 50c party members trolls on HN (see [1])?

I like how quick you label people as soon as they share different political view.

> Could you elaborate on this wild claim?

Taiwan enjoyed a short period of economic boom only thanks to China opened up its market to Taiwan and had policies encouraging business from Taiwan to do so. This almost has nothing to do with their political system.

And now things have turned around. Taiwan's democratic system is a drag on their economy and prone to foreign influence. (Buying outdated weaponary from States? Continuous internal political struggles?) Whereas China has a much more unified vision under a strong leadership and on track to seek total economic dominance.

[YorkshireSeason]

   outdated weaponary from States?

Taiwan wouldn't need weapons were it not for the unacceptable bullying from China. Let's not forget that China also supported Pol Pot just a few decades ago.

   Continuous internal political struggles?

Vigorous political debate is the hallmark of a democracy.

   seek total economic dominance.

Sounds horrifying. I recommend veiling your threats in a more gentle language, maybe you can fool more people that way.

[fatman13gg]

> Taiwan wouldn't need weapons were it not for the unacceptable bullying from China.

I see that we would never convince the other at this point. But I do hope that you open up your eye one day and don't give into those radical left ideology.

I don't know if you are living in either China or Taiwan to know the dynamics of this complex situation. If not, your source would be only from your parents and biased narrative of west media. And those people most likely don't understand it either.

Watch more Jordan Peterson video maybe. Be a good citizen of the world.

加油。(wink, wink)

[YorkshireSeason]

Jordan Peterson isn't exactly a friend of communist parties, have a look at what he's got to say about Mao. Xi's bullying of Taiwan is directly out of Mao's playbook.

[fatman13gg]

> Jordan Peterson isn't exactly a friend of communist parties

I never said JP would embrace any communist ideology. I was merely pointing out that you should see and think before you make ignorant claims without any actual data or seeing things with your own eyes.

> Xi's bullying of Taiwan

I don't understand why you keep saying bullying. For a tiny little island still holding claim to the mainland, China is being extremely nice. (Imagine Mexico government still holding claims to States that U.S. has taken by force, how would U.S. government react to that?) All I see around me is Taiwan business taking advantage of Chinese market and Taiwanese employees enjoy the fruit of China's development. There may be frictions, but it certainly wouldn't come near to the level that U.S. is exploiting it's neighbors in the continent.

Hope you would stop being a hypocrite before pointing figures.

[YorkshireSeason]

   For a tiny little island still 
   holding claim to the mainland, 
   China is being extremely nice. 

That is because of the "One China" consensus that the ROC and the PRC currently adhere to. A one-sided change of this status, e.g. by Taiwan renouncing being rulers of all of China, might trigger the PRC's anti-secession laws, which in turn would lead to an invasion of Taiwan by the PRC.

Another dimension is that if the mainland was actually interested in free trade, as required by e.g. the World Trade Organization (WTO), the mainland had to be open to other countries ...

As an aside, you accept Mainland's claim to TW, but not the symmetric claim of TW to the mainland. So you are applying double standards. Hmmm ...

As a further aside, it was a big strategic blunder of the KMT not to rescind its claim to be the legitimate rulers of the mainland when Nixon switched from the KMT to Mao as the official rulers of the mainland, and let the mainland into the UN. At the time, the mainland was very weak, desperate for international recognition, and would probably have accepted such a deal. (Pure speculation: Nixon deliberately encouraged the KMT to keep claiming mainland rulership, so as to instate a frozen conflict [2] / do divide-and-conquer against Mao. Again, I have no evidence for this, but that sort of Machiavellian trick has been used by empires since time immemorial to weaken its competitors.)

   Taiwan business taking 
   advantage of Chinese market 

That's part of the PRC's subversion strategy: get access to Taiwanese technology, institute a brain-drain, and most important: buy the acquiescence of the Taiwanese rich -- rest assured that Taiwanese companies can only succeed on the mainland, as long as they are not questioning the PRC's stance on Taiwan.

    you keep saying bullying.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. [1] is today's example of bullying.

[1] http://uk.businessinsider.com/palau-airline-closes-over-ange...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_conflict