[samhyde69]

Very eurocentric commentary in this thread.

China, a civilization-state that predates the West by thousands of years, was not going to turn into the West, no matter how much we wished for it.

Very normative patriarchal colonialist judgments on a country that raised more people out of poverty than any other time in human history.

[markdestouches]

This sounds like it's straight from the CCP propaganda machine. Having the same ancient culture didn't stop Taiwan from becoming a western-like state.

[vanattab]

I would describe Taiwan was western-aligned but not western-like.

[markdestouches]

Western-like in the sense of its institutions, elections, rule of law, economy etc. Not that these things are western by nature, just that people tend to associate them with western countries.

[josephcsible]

The legitimate government of China that's lasted for thousands of years is currently effectively exiled to Taiwan. The CCP is a new usurper/colonizer/occupier.

[chimeracoder]

> The CCP is a new usurper/colonizer/occupier.

Those three words mean three different things and are not interchangeable. The CCP cannot accurately be called a "colonizer", because, regardless of its faults, it's not exogenous to China.

It's a category error.

[josephcsible]

Which word would you recommend as the best fit for what I'm trying to say?

[I-M-S]

Victor.

[josephcsible]

That misses the point of the illegitimacy. Is that the only word you'd use to describe the Taliban after they usurped control of Afghanistan?

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

This is what my Chinese-American friends say, only with much more colorful language.