eightyonekilograms:

OK, I’m seeing some bad posts from some of the usual suspects, which, whatever, but in these bad posts I also see a couple intelligent and well-meaning people getting tripped up, and so I’m here to help.

Whenever the issue of Taiwan comes up, you are guaranteed to see pro-PRC people saying that “well the ROC also claims sovereignty over China, so they’re just as bad”. This is an vile and disingenuous claim, for two reasons:

First, nobody in Taiwan– not the KMT, not the Greens, nobody– expects or even wants to reconquer China, now or any time in the future. It’s not just that they know they obviously can’t, it’s that they no longer even want to. Anyone who tells you otherwise is bullshitting you. Formal independence and statehood is the most radical thing anyone in Taiwan wants, and most people don’t even want that; their preferred option is indefinite extension of the status quo. Claiming sovereignty over the mainland is a dead letter symbolic gesture with no intent behind it, and everybody everywhere knows this.

Second, and more importantly, the PRC forces Taiwan to keep claiming that it will reconquer the mainland someday. No I’m not being stupid: I’m serious, and it’s true. The government of Taiwan is required to keep saying that it is the legitimate ruler of China, no matter how ridiculous that is, because formally renouncing this claim is equivalent to a declaration of independence, and that is the PRC’s immediate red-line to go to war.

So now you see what an evil catch-22 it is to say “look, Taiwan says it is the rightful ruler of China and they’re going to invade someday!”. If the ROC does make these claims, they’re accused of imperialism. If they don’t, they immediately get invaded.

Don’t fall for this trick. When you see this claim, you now know how to shut it down completely.

What do the Formosans think?