Source
calihoe•

This was a great article. I hope that Taiwan is recognized soon.

2
bccclOP•

thanks. in the end it's up to the taiwanese people to decide what relationship they have with china, and for the chinese people as whole to decide their destiny, but it's worth defending a place and culture which is unfairly marginalised thanks to the tug and pull between the major powers.

3
bccclOP•

this is an interesting take on taiwan from a 'left' perspective, a case for taiwan as a democracy worth defending whatever your place on the ideological spectrum.

i realise this is a complex issue as taiwan is of strategic importance to china, america, japan and others, but as a place with its own identity and culture the island is more than a pawn and certainly more than the kmt (kumomingtan) stonghold it once was.

1
bccclOP•

this would all be abstract except i visited the island earlier this year and feel personally invested in the safety and future of the people i briefly met.

my parents were apprehensive as they had a vague notion of taiwan as a backwards, quasi-fascist island garrisson, which it is manifestly not (though it is an island fort if you look at it from a defence perspective).

it took this article and snapshots from my stay to change their minds and see taiwan for the interesting experiment in democracy it is.

1