According to What is the ‘One China’ policy? (2021), the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 was an origin of ‘One China’ stories and its power. Although the Kuomintang had fought for their nation, they finally fled to an island named Taiwan, and governed the island as an independent country, the Republic of China. However, the communist party ruling the mainland announced on the international stage that Taiwan is an inseparable province waiting to be reunited with the People’s Republic of China. This diplomatic act is called the ‘One China principle’. China is hindering Taiwan from the world by its ‘One China policy’: they take a political stand for “there is only one Chinese government” (BBC, 2021). Since the policy began in 1970, Beijing has benefited the most, and it casts Taiwan out of formal diplomatic ties from many countries similar to the US. In 1979, tailoring the Sino-US relationship for maintaining a commercial benefit resulted in the ending of the Taipei embassy in the US. However, the US had been continuously weaving an unofficial and quiet relationship to support Taiwan as a security ally: trading arms for self-protection, yet still insisting on peaceful solutions. Even though Taiwan has been struggling because of the ‘One China Policy’, the long-lasting emotional bond between the US and Taiwan was worth “a controversial phone call” (BBC, 2021) between Trump and Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s president. Today, the ideal relationship between the US and the two of China is waiting to be seen.
Reference
What is the ‘One China’ policy? (2021, October 6). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38285354
A point that interested my in Num's source, which came up in Good's review of Num's summary, is the importance of names, which is something that China (the mainland, which officially calls itself "The People's Republic of China") and Taiwan (officially "the Republic of China"), often have wars of words over. The phrase in Num's source that stuck in my mind when I first read it is that Taiwan must "undergo[] extraordinary naming contortions just to participate in events and institutions like the Olympic Games and the World Trade Organization." Hopefully, the war between Taiwan and China will not escalate to bullets and bombs.
ReplyDeleteMy own feeling is that the citizens of an area should freely decide for themselves whether or not they join some particular state or other institution, and that smaller regions of nations should be largely free to manage their own affairs as they see fit, which is the case in very different political systems of the United States and my own country, Australia. But China does not like the idea of its territories acting autonomously as the citizens wish, Hong Kong being a recent example.
First, I want to thank you Num that her piece of writing helped me to learn new English words especially politic ones being rarely seen in my daily life.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to politic discussions, it is easy to become controversial as this topic might be sensitive and subjective depending on individuals' beliefs.
Personally, I hope that one day every person will be world citizen and there is no boundary among us.
I have not been familiar to politics situation ,especially outside Thailand. The topic you choose can answer my wondering, why Taiwan do not use another name and flag to join the Olympic game? , very well. It also useful to learn some names about the most powerful nation in the world, "The People's Republic of China" and "the Republic of China" , as I always think both of them refer to the China mainland.
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