[PureParadigm]

Currently the US is not choosing either of these because they both have downsides. In (1), this may embolden Taiwan to take risky and provocative actions such as declaring themselves an independent country. (2) is obviously not in US interests.

Instead, the current US position is strategic ambiguity. It is clear there is probably a line somewhere after which the US will intervene, but it is not clear to either side where this is. The goal is that this will deter both sides from changing the status quo, but as China becomes increasingly aggressive it may be necessary for the US to make its position more explicit.

[ddevault]

Taiwan already officially considers itself an independent country, and maintains a large, sophisticated military for the purpose of defending this status.

[PureParadigm]

What I meant is declare themselves independent from mainland China (dropping the claims on the mainland). This would provoke China by violating the Anti-Secession Law [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Secession_Law

[beloch]

Article 8 is a doozy. I was ignorant of it.

From the sounds of it, Taiwan doesn't want to declare its independence nor signal there is no hope of peaceful reunification with mainland China because either of these would trigger an attack mandated by PRC law.

It really does seem as though Taiwan is between a rock and a hard place here. To gain formal status as a country and enter formal mutual defence treaties, they'd have to trigger a Chinese attack. If they don't have formal treaties, they could be absorbed at any time without anyone doing anything. It's either certain attack or risk an attack with no allies.

Talk about being held hostage. There should be more international pressure on the PRC to eliminate Article 8.

[dirtyid]

PRC/ROC dynamic is formally an unfinished civil war, it's diplomatically a domestic issue between two governments representing one China, where recognition is mutually exclusive. The current peace / détente is held together by a bunch of incongruous agreements, i.e. article 8 & 92 consensus between PRC/ROC, three communiqués between PRC/US, TW relations act between ROC/US to make the current arrangement somewhat workable. I don't think even "peaceful" legal options exist at UN anymore, article 18 can add new members with 2/3 vote, but resolution 2758 that changed UN recognition from ROC to PRC precludes Taiwanese politicians from joining as they are technically representatives of a Chinese province. There would need to be overhaul of UN, modern IR and Westphalian sovereignty system for TW to exist as a separate country from PRC which isn't likely to happen with PRC influence. Formal TW recognition (and derecognition of PRC) by outside parties still does not change civil war dynamic which can't be ended unilaterally by one party or outside parties. There's no way out but to fight and win for TW, and win sufficiently to be able to dictate terms to PRC and have PRC surrender agreed formally so as to enable the creation two separate sovereign states. Even then it doesn't change underlying PRC desire to regain Taiwan, whether that's resumption of civil war, via illegal war, or declaration of legal war. TW independence is a military problem, I think people are deluding themselves if they belief there's a political two country solution, especially by third parties.

[dang]

Did you see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26569477? If you continue to ignore our repeated requests we are going to have to ban you. I don't believe that you're posting in bad faith but you're abusing the site by violating its intended purpose this badly.

[dirtyid]

I forgot about it and just found opportunity to read it in full. My tone in referenced reply was uncalled for. I would edit for civility if I could. I'll filter my posts on topic for pejorative language in the future. I appreciate the the effort you put into explanation. By abuse, do you mean focus on one flamewar topic? I engage in topics I'm well read on, or rather I get engaged on topics where I have dissenting opinion. Most of my comments on other topics typically don't get any replies so I find most of my followups / replies to centre around Chinese topics. I will incorporate your two guidelines going forward to avoid engaging in ways that bias towards flamewar.

[shp0ngle]

Not really. Taiwan officially calls itself "Republic of China" and awkwardly claims that they actually own China mainland. (Since the time of Chiang Kai Shek.)

This position is (also awkwardly) preferable to People's Republic of China, since they see it as better negotiating position for reunification, rather than Taiwan independence.