Good. Even if nobody likes 'murica, their weapons work well enough to deter China from doing something stupid.
Imagine if the roles were reversed, and it was China arming i.e. Panama. How would you feel then?
(Because the USA has done a lot of "something stupid"s as well).
Edit: Folks, you can analyze the bigger picture without being a tankie. It's unfortunate that so many ex-Redditors would rather block and report any display of critical thought
Imagine if the roles were reversed, and it was China arming i.e. Panama. How would you feel then
False equivalence, Panama's risk of being suddenly invaded in the current political climate is nearly zero. Taiwan (is #1), on the other hand, has to be ever vigilant. Also, Panama doesn't house the 'rightful' government of the US.
How about Cuba, then?
Same deal. They've suffered an unjust embargo, sure, but are under no real threat of invasion.
I probably should have said Cuba in my main comment. Doesn't look like it helped people understand, though!
There's nothing to understand, it's the same situation. Neither Panama nor Cuba are currently under threat from the USA. The USA does not claim ownership over either, and is not threatening their sovereignty.
You're the one not understanding the false equivalency.
Would you feel comfortable with China putting weapons on Cuba? Because the US got real upset last time, and as you said, the US doesn't even have plans to invade Cuba (anymore)
It would be irksome, sure. But there is no amount of weaponry that China could supply Cuba with that would threaten the USA (short of nukes), so it would be a moot point. Business as usual. Taiwan similarly has no hope of success in attacking China, regardless of how many weapons the USA provides. Meaning: this only works one way, and if China is upset about that then maybe they should keep their eyes (and hands) within their own borders and everything will be fine.
Obviously they're different. But failing to empathize when given the analogy shows either the inability or unwillingness to understand China's position.
it's just a poor analogy, not worth taking seriously.
I understand the PRC's position just fine because they've been explicit about it for decades: They believe that Taiwan, an island they've never controlled, is theirs by imperial right based on the Qing dynasty's rule over it for ~200 years prior to 1900.
We don't need to "empathize" with a desire for imperial conquest, we just need to stand in the way of it.
The US wouldn't be arming Taiwan if China wasn't making the claim that it is part of China. Taiwan poses literally zero threat to china. There is no US comparison here.
It's the same shit with Ukraine and Russia, and China is watching closely. It's probably easier politically for Republicans to fund a nation not in conflict, because the deterrence doesn't look like as big a win for Biden, so this is why they intelligently to along with it.
From Wikipedia:
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia.
What were you saying?
What's your point? Did you just stop there and not read the next sentence that says "It is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest"?
My point is that Taiwan IS a part of China. Two different governments but the same country. And both say they are the "real" China.
Wait until you hear about the official names of China, or North and South Korea
(For the uninitiated: People's Republic of China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Republic of Korea. Tl;dr there's more than one issue if you're going off the country's official name for which land they own)
I'll piss on the CCP any day of the week, thank you very much. I'm a communist, by the way.
Nobody needs to understand chinas positions. They are irrelevant.
If you're comparing China/Taiwan circumstances to USA/Panama I'm sorry but I cannot call that a critical thought. The only similarity is proximity.
As an American who knows how evil our government is, I would be like "good for panama but also China is probably not doing this out of justice and freedom"
Neither is the US. We're doing it because Taiwan is a strategic ally
That's fine! We should not invade Panama. I don't think the US is currently planning on it, but after the last 20 years I'm pretty sure most citizens would be fucking glad for any excuse for our military to think twice before invading a foreign country.
Countries helping arm one another is good. Every country should have the capacity to defend itself. My country got steamrolled during WWII because we had few and outdated wapens
Gives me Cuban Missile Crisis vibes.
I'm not as happy that the US sells arms, but I'm convinced by the geopolitical climate that arming Ukraine and now I might add arming Taiwan is better for the world than worse. Refilling Israel's Iron Dome is probably a good idea too, though we are yet to see what the US sends and how defensive or offensive those weapons we send are.
There might be better comparisons though in the weird chess games we played in the middle east with Russia. They armed some insurgents, we armed some insurgents, etc. Afghanistan was a disaster for Russia too, though it was worse for us.
Good. Even if nobody likes 'murica, their weapons work well enough to deter China from doing something stupid.
Imagine if the roles were reversed, and it was China arming i.e. Panama. How would you feel then?
(Because the USA has done a lot of "something stupid"s as well).
Edit: Folks, you can analyze the bigger picture without being a tankie. It's unfortunate that so many ex-Redditors would rather block and report any display of critical thought
False equivalence, Panama's risk of being suddenly invaded in the current political climate is nearly zero. Taiwan (is #1), on the other hand, has to be ever vigilant. Also, Panama doesn't house the 'rightful' government of the US.
How about Cuba, then?
Same deal. They've suffered an unjust embargo, sure, but are under no real threat of invasion.
I probably should have said Cuba in my main comment. Doesn't look like it helped people understand, though!
There's nothing to understand, it's the same situation. Neither Panama nor Cuba are currently under threat from the USA. The USA does not claim ownership over either, and is not threatening their sovereignty.
You're the one not understanding the false equivalency.
Would you feel comfortable with China putting weapons on Cuba? Because the US got real upset last time, and as you said, the US doesn't even have plans to invade Cuba (anymore)
It would be irksome, sure. But there is no amount of weaponry that China could supply Cuba with that would threaten the USA (short of nukes), so it would be a moot point. Business as usual. Taiwan similarly has no hope of success in attacking China, regardless of how many weapons the USA provides. Meaning: this only works one way, and if China is upset about that then maybe they should keep their eyes (and hands) within their own borders and everything will be fine.
Obviously they're different. But failing to empathize when given the analogy shows either the inability or unwillingness to understand China's position.
it's just a poor analogy, not worth taking seriously.
I understand the PRC's position just fine because they've been explicit about it for decades: They believe that Taiwan, an island they've never controlled, is theirs by imperial right based on the Qing dynasty's rule over it for ~200 years prior to 1900.
We don't need to "empathize" with a desire for imperial conquest, we just need to stand in the way of it.
The US wouldn't be arming Taiwan if China wasn't making the claim that it is part of China. Taiwan poses literally zero threat to china. There is no US comparison here.
It's the same shit with Ukraine and Russia, and China is watching closely. It's probably easier politically for Republicans to fund a nation not in conflict, because the deterrence doesn't look like as big a win for Biden, so this is why they intelligently to along with it.
From Wikipedia:
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia.
What were you saying?
What's your point? Did you just stop there and not read the next sentence that says "It is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest"?
My point is that Taiwan IS a part of China. Two different governments but the same country. And both say they are the "real" China.
Wait until you hear about the official names of China, or North and South Korea
(For the uninitiated: People's Republic of China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Republic of Korea. Tl;dr there's more than one issue if you're going off the country's official name for which land they own)
I'll piss on the CCP any day of the week, thank you very much. I'm a communist, by the way.
Nobody needs to understand chinas positions. They are irrelevant.
If you're comparing China/Taiwan circumstances to USA/Panama I'm sorry but I cannot call that a critical thought. The only similarity is proximity.
As an American who knows how evil our government is, I would be like "good for panama but also China is probably not doing this out of justice and freedom"
Neither is the US. We're doing it because Taiwan is a strategic ally
That's fine! We should not invade Panama. I don't think the US is currently planning on it, but after the last 20 years I'm pretty sure most citizens would be fucking glad for any excuse for our military to think twice before invading a foreign country.
Countries helping arm one another is good. Every country should have the capacity to defend itself. My country got steamrolled during WWII because we had few and outdated wapens
Gives me Cuban Missile Crisis vibes.
I'm not as happy that the US sells arms, but I'm convinced by the geopolitical climate that arming Ukraine and now I might add arming Taiwan is better for the world than worse. Refilling Israel's Iron Dome is probably a good idea too, though we are yet to see what the US sends and how defensive or offensive those weapons we send are.
There might be better comparisons though in the weird chess games we played in the middle east with Russia. They armed some insurgents, we armed some insurgents, etc. Afghanistan was a disaster for Russia too, though it was worse for us.