Novus America wrote:Infected Mushroom wrote:
the people on the island are ethnic Han Chinese (mostly)
it makes no sense to discard the Republic of China identity when that is a beneficial part of the island's historical roots
No one is saying, "join the PRC now," you can do it in a few decades when things are more to your liking but the economy of the island is already bad enough as it is without further needless confrontationalism and identity politics
Ethnicity is not everything. Ethnicity does not mean you want to be a part of another state that shares the same ethnicity. Historically Taiwan has never been part of the PRC.
The people care more about their freedom than ethnic nationalism.
And again if the PRC fell and was replaced by a halfway decent confederal or federal China, I am sure support for independence in Taiwan would dramatically drop.
The PRC is the problem, not the people of Taiwan who are just trying to protect themselves and their identity. And they have never been part of the PRC.
Han Chinese is not really meaningful anyways as it is something like being Slavic. It is a very over-broad ethnic grouping, with many different languages and cultures within it.
And the PRC will never be to their liking, under Xi it is getting worse, not better.
The only way to get a Chinese government too their liking (a free, at least somewhat representative and democratic, federal or confederal government) is for the PRC to end.
As long as the PRC exists they will not want to be part of it.
And their economy is actually doing well enough as is:
https://focustaiwan.tw/business/201912190019
Exactly. The PRC is an absurd entity that has nothing to do with the ordinary Chinese people.