Yeah, China just defines a country as "not another country" when they want to interfere. See Hong Kong, Taiwan, or pretty much every other neighboring country and their territorial waters or exclusive economic zone.
It is important to keep in mind that China is a startup empire. They are still trying to dominate their immediate neighborhood, whereas the US is an established empire, mostly concerned with global matters. Interestingly, Russia is a declined empire and had to turn back to affairs closer to its borders again.
>Yeah, China just defines a country as "not another country" when they want to interfere. See Hong Kong, Taiwan, or pretty much every other neighboring country and their territorial waters or exclusive economic zone.
Yet those definitions of domestic issues were made by ROC, and acknowledged to some degree by most security council members post ww2, which PRC inherited, and have been largely consistent in enforcing. PRC isn't making up domestic interests for geopolitics, it's protecting domestic interests despite geopolitics, i.e. PRC maritime disputes predates UNCLOS which opponents are retroactively wielding to constrain PRC interests that predates it. It's not PRC changing definitions or rules or interests.
>China is a startup empire
And it's important to see how PRC is trying to build the new empire. Apart from brief phase where Mao was exporting revolution, in aggregate it has been predominantly peaceful. Unprecedentedly so, even more so as PRC grows, contrary to expectations. PRC military today is more powerful than it's ever been, yet PRC employment of force is near historical level of restraint, i.e. instead of thousand casualty boarder skirmishes with India when PRC was barely industrialized, recent sino-indian skirmishes ended with 10s of casualities. That's ridiculously reserved all things consider. There's quite literally not another ascending power who has reached pacing strength with the existing hegemon as fast and as peacefully as PRC in recent history. Current indictors show if PRC assumes role of global police, she would actually just focus on policing (with customary bias), versus current US trigger happy global policing that's a reflection on her domestic model. Which is probably a better example for future hegemons all things considered.
Hong Kong and Taiwan aren't countries. Both are historically Chinese territory and both are, as far as international law, the UN, and international recognition are concerned, Chinese land.
Hong Kong was supposed to be a separate administrative region according to the treaty with the UK, which has been violated by China, but it was never a country.
Chinese land -> colony -> autonomous Chinese region -> China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is the party that lost the Chinese Civil war and ran away to an island which is considered a part of China ( Taiwan, Formosa before that) even if it was occupied by the Japanese after the first Sino-Japanese war. To this day, both PRC and ROC claim they are the sole China. Everyone agrees the PRC is the sole China.
Recently there has been a shift in Taiwan, with a new party in power, and generally people there seem to be more in favour of abandoning the ROC and China claims, and just being an independent country called Taiwan. Sadly that won't be accepted by the PRC, since, you know, they claim Taiwan is theirs ( and it legally still is considered to be).
For Americans, an analogy for Taiwan - the Confederacy lost the Civil war, but ran away to Hawai, assimilated the locals, calls itself the CSA and claims the whole of the US in its constitution.
> For Americans, an analogy for Taiwan - the Confederacy lost the Civil war, but ran away to Hawai, assimilated the locals, calls itself the CSA and claims the whole of the US in its constitution.
A decent anology. If that happened, then many people on both sides would still being willing to fight and die for it today.
There are 15 states, the vast majority of which are microstates, which recognise Taiwan as "the China". Some countries have unofficial representation within, but don't officially recognise it. No country officially recognises Taiwan and China as separate countries. Should have said "almost everyone", not everyone, indeed.
> That sounds a lot like "two countries" to me
And absolutely is, in practice. However, from a legal/UN/international law standpoint, Taiwan isn't a country, it's a Chinese island.
Due to the power and influence of the PRC, few countries, even the US, would dare to recognise an independent Taiwan replacing the ROC claim to the whole of China. And even then, China would still claim it's their land and they might even invade.
It is important to keep in mind that China is a startup empire. They are still trying to dominate their immediate neighborhood, whereas the US is an established empire, mostly concerned with global matters. Interestingly, Russia is a declined empire and had to turn back to affairs closer to its borders again.