Summary
China imposed sanctions on seven U.S. and allied companies, including Raytheon Canada and Aerkomm Inc., due to recent U.S. military aid and arms sales to Taiwan, as well as provisions in the U.S. defense bill against China.
Sanctions include asset freezes and bans on business dealings in China.
This follows President Biden authorizing $571 million in military aid and $295 million in arms sales to Taiwan.
Beijing condemned the U.S. for violating agreements, interfering in domestic affairs, and increasing tensions over Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.
The sad reality is that Taiwan doesn’t want this. Most Taiwanese would eventually like to see it, but the fear of reprisal by China means they do not today claim to be an independent country. And I don’t think it’s right for anyone else to declare independence for them against their wishes.
Countries should continue to treat Taiwan as the independent country it is, including maintaining de facto embassies, treating them as independent for all foreign & trade policy, and aiding them in their self defence. But not officially recognise it until such a time as Taiwan wants that.
We still don’t have to recognize the One China policy. It’s that kind of ambiguity that led to Russia invading Ukraine.
And China is behaving in much the same way, which they didn’t use to in the past. But it’s gotten worse under Xi.
Long term, I agree. One China is a ridiculous fantasy with no relationship to the real world.
But right now, Taiwan is terrified, and rightly so, that China is going to violently invade them. And even people in Taiwan who are pro independence largely would rather maintain the status quo than risk antagonising China any more than strictly necessary.
We should ensure Taiwan is as able to defend itself as possible, and should be prepared to aid them if necessary and ensure China knows that would happen if they invaded. But we should let Taiwan take the lead in terms of determining how they want to be perceived on the world stage. And that means not officially recognising it unless they first declare official independence.
Yes that’s very understandable, Xi has really turned up the heat for some reason. What is it with those sociopaths? How is China not big enough as it is. The revolution won over the old regime.
I don’t see how denouncing the One China policy would threaten Taiwan, it’s a signal to China that they should behave.
I also don’t think we should repeat the mistakes we did with Ukraine, that made Putin think he could invade without much problems from the west.
I would really really love to cooperate with China, there is so much potential in that, but we can’t accept China threatening peaceful neighbors, remember it’s not only Taiwan, but also other neighbors that feel threatened regarding China’s expansionist policies lately.
Absolutely.