[Rugoz]

American officials shouldn't make provocative visits and they should stop trying to work China up over Taiwan. It's a complicated issue and all of this is actually increasing the risk of them trying to reunify by force. Look what what's happening now, they're conducting exercises right on Taiwan's coast. Do the American leadership understand anything at all? They strike me as a pack of idiots, to be quite honest. Pelosi's visit was highly irresponsible, and she won't be the one who has to deal with the consequences, she's not Taiwanese and doesn't live there. She probably knows very little about any of this either.

https://jamestown.org/program/taiwan-op ... ith-china/

Look at this article, it's got some very interesting information about Taiwanese opinions on unification. A lot want to maintain de jure independence, and the KMT want good relations with Beijing. So, it's not a black and white issue and ultimately we should do all we can to prevent another war.

Don't buy into the retarded Chinese narrative that Pelosi's visit is some sort of provocation.

Nobody advocates independence. Not Pelosi, the US, or the DPP.

[Political Interest]

Don't buy into the retarded Chinese narrative that Pelosi's visit is some sort of provocation.

If they say it's a provocation then that's their perspective and we should deal with them on that basis.

Now there are naval exercises of Taiwan's coast, so Pelosi's visit didn't achieve much did it?

When all is said and done she gets to go home at the end of the day, the people living in Taiwan have nowhere else to go.

Nobody advocates independence. Not Pelosi, the US, or the DPP.

No, but the DPP aren't exactly friendly with Beijing are they?

[Rugoz]

No, but the DPP aren't exactly friendly with Beijing are they?

No democratic government can be friendly with Beijing. There are only different strategies on how to deal with it.

[Political Interest]

No democratic government can be friendly with Beijing. There are only different strategies on how to deal with it.

Relations were better under the KMT.

Anyhow, I'm not Taiwanese so I won't tell them how to vote but at the same time I think we need to maintain peace at all costs, war is good for nobody.

[Rugoz]

I think we need to maintain peace at all costs

If you think that way you already lost.

[Rancid]

If you think that way you already lost.

Agree. The phrase "at all costs" literally means at all costs. Why don't people understand this?

[Political Interest]

If you think that way you already lost.

I fear death, Rugoz. Are you not afraid of dying? To that end I hate war.

Agree. The phrase "at all costs" literally means at all costs. Why don't people understand this? :?:

Because if war has to happen it had better be worth it, and all other alternatives exhausted to nth degree of possibility. The generation that survived WWII always told us how awful war is.

[Rancid]

Because if war has to happen it had better be worth it, and all other alternatives exhausted to nth degree of possibility. The generation that survived WWII always told us how awful war is.

It will be worth it.

[Wels]

I fear death, Rugoz. Are you not afraid of dying? To that end I hate war.

Every living thing we are aware of will agree.

Because if war has to happen it had better be worth it, and all other alternatives exhausted to nth degree of possibility. The generation that survived WWII always told us how awful war is.

"Other alternatives exhausted", right. You think some being like Putin will voluntarily give back an inch of what he has "conquered"? "Better be worth it" is the core.
Not your "Godwin's law" again, but do you think Chamberlain's appeasement before WW2 did change anything?
Saying yes and yes again – to a dictator breaking international law like annexing and executing wars of aggression and all that follows (see war crimes etc.) – to prevent your going to war will not save your nation. At some point you HAVE to stand up and defend. During all the millenia even humankind should have learned one thing or another.
But yes, you have to decide for yourself.

[Mike12]

"liberty" is a lot thinner than we all expect, it is "liberty" isn't free. Freedom is fairly available and unimpeded. A Confederate achieved Freedom in the Grave or without. The Liberty was thinner to be distinguished or not. We're all POWs at some point to some end without liberty, because someone didn't give you that honor.

[QatzelOk]

It will be worth it.

The Sig has had a strong effect on some posters, I see.

[Skynet]

Taiwan has the opportunity to declare independence.

[QatzelOk]

Taiwan has the opportunity to declare independence.

Versailles tried to do that in 1788, but then yucky, low-class, non-Versailles French people cut off their heads instead of letting them "develop their distinct Versailles culture."

[Godstud]

@Sandzak Taiwan already HAS independence. It is a sovereign state.

[AFAIK]

China's leadership abandoned the idea of forceful reunification decades ago. The most vocal advocates for an invasion are located in Washington DC who are eager to keep the possibility of war alive 'at all costs'.

[MadMonk]

Guardian

Xi Jinping opens Chinese Communist party congress with vow to take over Taiwan
President supports peaceful reunification but will ‘never promise to renounce use of force’ as speech launches event likely to grant him third five-year term

Xi Jinping celebrated China’s crushing of Hong Kong’s autonomy and warned Taiwan that the “wheels of history” are turning towards Beijing taking control of the island democracy in his speech opening the Communist party congress.

The most important gathering in the five-year Chinese political cycle is expected to hand Xi another five-year term running China, cementing his position as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

The Chinese president’s address to delegates, nearly two hours long, offered a rare if opaque glimpse into his plans and hopes for the country. It suggested the direction of China under Xi’s leadership – characterised by growing social control, regional aggression, and rivalry with the west – would probably continue.

He said the country had increased its global influence over the last five years, and warned against foreign interference in the dispute about Taiwan. He did not name any countries but there have been escalating tensions with the US.

He lauded the decision to crack down on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement by bringing in national security laws that have effectively criminalised dissent. The actions had restored order and marked “a turn for the better in the region”, Xi said.

Sung Wen-ti, a political scientist with the Australian National University, said Xi’s comments about Taiwan could be viewed optimistically.

“It’s heavy on the ‘oughts’ and the ‘musts’ but pretty ambiguous on the ‘hows’,” Sung told the Guardian. “The lack of ‘hows’ is a sign he wants to preserve policy flexibility, and doesn’t want to irreversibly commit to a particularly adversarial path.”

Sung said the lack of specifics was a sign that despite the escalation of recent months, Xi “still doesn’t intend to have his own timeline disrupted by the internationalisation of the Taiwan issue”.

“That’s a good sign I think for Taiwan.”

Most of it for domestic consumption, I guess, as Xi wants to extend his rule and needs to take a flexible hardline for the nationalist crowd element that he needs. Covid restrictions gaining unpopularity while doubling down on them yet again is worrisome, for China and everyone else.

[Fasces]

Same old same old.

[late]

Same old same old.

Actually, it's not.

We agreed with China that we would both ignore Taiwan. Bill Clinton goofed big time when he said we would not militarily defend Taiwan. What he said was true, but you weren't supposed to say it.

Xi is pushing the issue, which the other guys did not. The policy teams kept walking back Biden's statements that we would defend them, but had to give up, that's our policy now.

This is a big change for both countries. While you can find sensible people on both sides, our policy intent has always been to get China to join the modern world, where you do trade, not conquest.

[XogGyux]

The best things about China's treats is that they are all empty. They treaten to use military force to prevent nancy visiting the island, nancy goes there and call their bluff . You know whats worse than admitting taiwan is no china? Making a stupid bluff that people call you up and you are embarrassed for it

[QatzelOk]

The best things about China's t(h)reats is that they are all empty.

Wheras Nancy Pelosi's bank accounts are full.

Her and her husband probably invested in "anti-Chinese rhetoric" futures before booking her flight.

The Scandal of Congressional Stock Trading



...On September 29, Insider named 72 national legislators who violated the law to prevent insider trading and conflicts of interest. But that was not the only recent eye-opening news on lawmakers’ tribulations with er, the law. In the years between 2019 and 2021, the New York Times reported September 13, “more than 3700 trades reported by lawmakers from both parties posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances.” That’s a lot of questionable trades. You might even say there should be a law against this.

Well, there is, kinda. It’s called the Stock Act and passed in 2012. It allows stock trading, so long as the politicos eschew insider information. But according to the Times probe, a substantial number of those 3700 trades could very well have involved insider info. Those congress critters, you see, get the confidential lowdown on what’s happening in an industry or to specific companies and then, presto, they trade stock. So the Stock Act ain’t working, to understate matters...

*Insider stock-trading* is pure corruption, on the level of *taxation without representation*.