Is Taiwan a country?

I believe that Taiwan is an independent country,as it certainly isn't part of China,& hasn't been a part of China since 1949.Your views please.

Aidan.

 

I also believe it is a independent country.

 

Oh heck yea. My friend's wife is from there and they ALL consider themsleves to be a nation. Every person in Tiawan (for the most part) holds the communist PRC in disdain.

 

Unfortunately, in the world spectrum, Taiwan is not recognized by the President of the United States, and thus is NOT an independent country. It is legally recognized to be a part of China. It's similar to Palestine. There is no Palestinean state in the eyes of the "first world" because our president, and many other Western leaders do not recognize the sovereignty of Palestine.

 

I belive that Taiwan is an independant country, it has a seperate econonmy, government, and culture as China and is thus an independant country weather or not the president of another country considers it a country or not.

 

Clinton abandoned our old allie Taiwan. Bush picked them up again. They clearly are an independent nation. The Chinese communists are largely mean, belligerant, and marginally insane.

 

Who says that our president is the one who gets to decide who is and who isnt a country? Who made us the world police now?

 

Thanks for your views so far.Taiwan has a very ambiguous political status similar to that of Somaliland.I also believe that Somaliland is also an independent country,as is Tibet.

Aidan.

 

Ah dude Bush aint standing up to China, No way No how, he only attacjs weak little countries.

 

It wasn't Clinton that abandoned them. It was Nixon. He was the one who changed the fact that we recognize the PRC as representative of "China," rather than Taiwan. Which, to be fair to Nixon, wasn't entirely unreasonable. Way more people in the PRC. For everything made of Nixon's anti-communism, he was, even after leaving office, an advocate of realpolitik.

But that doesn't mean Taiwan isn't a country. The DDR and the FRG were both countries, and they were both German.

Incidentally, the United States is required by its own law to defend Taiwan if the PRC tries to change the status quo.

 

To my knowledge, Nixon did not sell the communist Cinese American military secrets, including critical ICBM technology, for mere campaign contributions to the DNC. The communist Chinese did not acquire American atomic weapons designs on Nixon's watch. Clinton openly stated that the United Staes would not defend Taiwan. he restricted arms sales to Taiwan. Bush indeed reversed that policy. The Commander-in-Chief has a lot of discretion in how to utilize American military assets.

 

Get that from the Black Helicopter Report or the John Birch Quarterly?

 

Taiwan may consider itself independent of China, and Palestine may consider itself separate from Israel, but what my original post was meant to relate was that from a first-world perspective and in a commerce/economic sense, because many "Western" leaders (including the US President, British Prime Minister, German Chancellor, and French Premier) do not recognize their sovereignty, technically to United States citizens, Taiwan is NOT independent (as much as we all wish it were and probably should be).

~AJM

 

Taiwan doesn't need USA recognition to establish it's status as a nation as several of the Americans would suggest. In fact there are several other nations which are not recognised by the USA - North Korea, Iran, Cuba but nobody could claim they are not nations. The USA chooses selectively to impose ridiculous sanctions on them instead of opening up trade and flooding their economies with consumer goods and capitalism.

Fidel Castro would have been out of power a long time ago if it were not for the inane boycott imposed by USA against practically all trade with Cuba. In effect Castro and Kim Il Sung can claim the USA cuts off trade and hurts them but helps their hold on power because population believe evil USA is out to kill them by starvation.

Think about it...

USA only recognises country that tow the political line and benefit it economically. Maybe they make huge mistake, since PR China will soon own the USA, who says Communism will not rule the world? Lets see... much USA debt is financed by PR Chinese banks, and USA has huge trade deficit with China. Maybe USA will benefit better by recognising Taiwan ROC instead of PR China.

 

That is mostly true. The real point is whether the United States will defend Taiwan if the reds attack them. Bush will. Clinton would probably not have done so. Recognition of a nation is almost irrelevent. Common goals and cooperation is important.

I think the USA needs to pull-back from unfair trade arrangements that exist between it and China. Corporate greed is hurting America again. Wallmart is China's seventh largest trading partner (as if it were a nation itself). That could stop tomorrow if Congress were so inclined. The question really is, which country, USA or China, needs the other the most. Right now I think China needs the USA. Our politicians apparently think that China will be what G.W. Bush calls "our friend". I think we could use some old fashioned isolationism. I am not a New World Order proponent. You need to be rich to want that to happen.

 

Without getting into an argument about China-US relations and economic sanctions with various other countries, it's important to note in your statement above that there is a difference between a STATE and a NATION. A STATE is defined best as an area with defined borders, sovereignty, and a government system that answers to no other. A NATION is best defined as a group of people having a common language, customs, heritage, etc.

Examples of STATES include France, Germany, USA, Australia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, and scores of other states. Examples of NATIONS include the Basque (in Spain and France), Palestineans, and Taiwanese. Note that NATIONS may transverse accepted geographical boundaries, whereas STATES establish those boundaries.

Therefore, while Taiwan may be a NATION, it is not a STATE, and thus not an independent country. The US State Department recognizes Taiwan to be a part of the People's Republic of China.

Please also note that Iran, North Korea, and Cuba ARE recognized as STATES by the US Department of State.

The defense of the island of Taiwan by the USA is irrelevant. If China were to attack Taiwan, the USA would step in to defend the Taiwanese (mostly because of the economic benefits of doing so versus not doing so) and at that time, one would have to believe that the USA would assist the Taiwanese in becoming sovereign. But until then, the island of Taiwan will continue to be under the control of the PRC, and not an independent country.

~AJM

 

Ajm229,Taiwan IS a state.It is not a nation,as its people speak a number of languages,especially those languages that are spoken nowhere else,but Taiwan.Officially,the Taiwanese speak Mandarin Chinese,but in reality,it is Taiwanese that they speak.Furthermore to this,the Taiwanese also have a different culture from China.

About North Korea,it is a recognised country.As to its leader,it is Kim Jong Il.Kim Il Sung was his father who died back in 1994.

Aidan.

 

I think taiwan is......an Island.

 

Of course it is.

Moen1305,of course Taiwan is an island.There are many countries around the world that are islands.

Aidan.

 

Really! Name one.