[mytailorisrich]

> Most countries do not recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan

That's not true. Most, if not all, countries recognise that Taiwan is a Chinese territory. Taiwan even held the Chinese seat at the UN until 1971. Taiwan is the only Chinese territory still under the control of the Republic of China (ROC). The issue is which side of the Chinese civil war, so PRC vs ROC.

Of course, the issue is weaponised against China in the West by pushing the narrative that Taiwan has nothing to do with China at all... Divide and conquer. That's obvious BS that uses the public's thr ignorance of Chinese history.

> that's not supported by the facts.

Well, it is. When did China threaten to invade Korea or Japan? Again, both of which were invaded by the US.

Taiwan is a Chinese affair and the South China sea (which is not East Asia) is China trying to assert itself, over uninhabited reefs, against undefined borders or borders that were drawn by Western colonial powers without China...

I understand that every country looks after its own interests, and the US are ferocious at it, but in the interest of intellectual curiosity on HN, let's skip over the various propagandas...

In any case, the US are still not going to attack China, nor is China going to attack the US. This would be madness. Proxy wars exist as safety buffers.

[taylodl]

You're right that Taiwan held the China seat at the UN until 1971, and that the ROC and PRC are rival claimants from the Chinese Civil War. But it's important to clarify that most countries do not formally recognize PRC sovereignty over Taiwan. They acknowledge the PRC's claim under the One China Policy, but do not endorse it as a legal fact. This is a deliberate posture of strategic ambiguity, not recognition of sovereignty.

> When did China threaten to invade Korea or Japan?

China has not threatened to invade Korea or Japan in the modern era, but the US also did not invade those countries in the way you're implying. The US occupied Japan after its surrender in WWII and intervened in Korea under a UN mandate to repel North Korean aggression. And just to be clear - Japan attacked the US first and declared war, not the other way around.

> Taiwan is a Chinese affair...

That’s the PRC’s position, but it’s not universally accepted. Taiwan has its own government, military, and democratic institutions. Whether one sees it as a "Chinese affair" depends on whether one prioritizes historical claims, self-determination, or geopolitical stability. All three are valid lenses, but they lead to different conclusions.

> South China Sea... uninhabited reefs, undefined borders...

The South China Sea disputes are governed by international maritime law, particularly UNCLOS. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China’s Nine-Dash Line has no legal basis. The issue isn’t just about reefs - it’s about exclusive economic zones, freedom of navigation, and militarization of contested areas. China’s posture in the region is increasingly assertive and cannot reasonably be described as peaceful.