China announces fresh drills around Taiwan

China has announced a new round of military drills around Taiwan, hot on the heels of its last exercises. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island last week enraged Beijing.

[lenox]

Why not let Taiwan vote on whether or not they would like become their own country?

[user]

Some people should read some books about Chinese history before making comments.

[robertdavie]

Could conflict between China and the West be avoided if the Taiwanese people, for those so inclined, were allowed to migrate on mass to Australia and possibly other countries? After all, Australia needs to grow its population for developmental reasons and the Taiwanese have amply demonstrated their ability to forge an economically successful democracy. Such people would make an excellent addition to Australia and its way of life.

I support the One-China policy and recognise that some Taiwanese are happy to accept mainland rule while others are not. For those that are not, they should have the option of leaving Taiwan for Australia, or somewhere else, especially if that will help prevent conflict between China and the West.

The US will not defend Taiwan because it supports the One China policy which means it recognises the territory of the former as being an indivisible part of China. This means the US believes that China is not committing an act of aggression against an independent or foreign nation by asserting its authority over the island.

The Evidence for this claim comes in many forms ranging from the general economic decline of the US to its inability to match China and Russia in such technologies as hypersonic missiles to the social divisions emerging within its population. The US is supposed to be the "arsenal of democracy" and yet it is not providing weapons to the Taiwanese for free but rather at some considerable profit. Also, what has been sold to them is outdated equipment.

““What this tells you should be obvious: the US has zero expectation that Taiwan will hold out against the [Chinese People’s Liberation Army]. It just assumes that everything sold to Taiwan will eventually end up in PLA hands. This is why it refused to deliver the AIM-120 missiles until the PLA possessed their own missiles that were just as good, ” Lu wrote.

“That’s not to say that the US won’t sell weapons to Taiwan. Just in the past 12 months it’s sold to Taiwan the M1A2 MBT, M109 SPA, and F-16V fighter jet, but these are all current generation or last generation equipment. The PLA will gain little tech knowledge when reverse engineering these pieces after Taiwan has capitulated. By contrast, the F-35 is too cutting edge to be forked over to the PLA, thus the US won’t export it to Taiwan.”

…. added that it’s not that Taiwan can’t afford the F-35s.

“If the US really had any hopes for Taiwan to hold out, it would be giving Taiwan F-35s for free, …””



None of this suggests that the US is serious about defending Taiwan.

So, the question becomes, what chance have the Taiwanese got in a fight against its vastly larger and better-armed neighbour? The outcome is obvious and so it is really a matter of saving as many lives as possible that is the real issue here. That can be achieved by allowing those who do not wish to live under the rule of the Communist Party to leave and become citizens of some other democracy, such as Australia.

Upholding Chinese sovereignty does not have to result in a massive loss of life on both sides of the Taiwan Strait in a military conflict that would also result in significant material destruction and environmental damage to both sides, and to any other nations choosing to involve themselves.

A peaceful outcome that is in line with the beliefs of the democracies of this world concerning the sanctity of human life can be achieved in a manner consistent with allowing the democratic aspirations of the Taiwanese to live on, all be it, in another country or countries who are similarly committed to the same way of life.

There does not have to be armed conflict between the West and China. There is another way to resolve the Taiwanese matter and that involves allowing the migration of a large part of the Taiwanese population to Australia. We should approach all sides with such an offer as soon as possible.