Friday, February 14, 2014

Some links....

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Tiny aphids on a grass stem.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mike for the link fest, it is always a treasure trove of material for a Taiwanese news junkie like myself.

a few points.

Taiwan needs to give up these ridiculous claims of islands it has no ground to pursue. Remember WHY China is claiming you, a territory it has NEVER governed? China is claiming Taiwan based on HISTORICAL LEGACY. But as we can all see, if the world's sovereignty is based on HISTORICAL LEGACY, then prepare for endless and infinite WWIII. Simple question to the scholars that want to dig up "historical and navigational" documents to support Taiwan's 9-dash-line claim, shouldn't you be working to discredit territorial claims BASED on historical legacy, and not legitimize it???

IF DPP really have Taiwan's best interest in mind, then it needs to get its act together and make sure Lien is defeated. We can not have someone with such deep financial ties with China use Taipei as his launching pad for a future presidential run. Nip this problem in the bud ASAP, because China will do everything it can to make sure he is elected if the time comes.

Raj said...

Good stuff about the local elections. These older politicians need to stand aside and let others have a go. They had their chance.

Maybe it's also an issue of ideology. They're traditionalists who can't accept dilution of their views. Like the UK Conservative Party, whose older voters scream against any attempt to move the party into the centre.

Whirled Peas said...

The historical legacy argument is bogus and harmful. And I agree we would have endless war and strife if countries could claim sovereignty over other nation's territory based on actual or alleged "historical" contact with the territory.

The UK and France would claim all or part of the US; but they'd have to fight the Native Americans who would have to fight each other over which tribe had dibs on the Americas. Borders in Europe would constantly shift, Asia would be a mess. Iceland and other Scandinavian countries would claim Newfoundland and parts of northeast US, including Boston. (Remember Lief Ericsson's visit in the year 1000) Conflict would be endless. Irredentism is a thoroughly reactionary and dangerous ideology. And the United Nations should make it known that these historical claims have zero credibility in international law.

TaiwanJunkie said...

No kidding, whirled peas, and you didn't even touch on the middle east! Turkey can claim everything from Iraq up to half of Eastern Europe. And maybe the Italians would want to start claiming land from the British isles down to every single country along the North African coast.

I will say China is very selective when it comes to their claims, somehow they are not claiming the old Manchurian stomping grounds in the Russian Far East. Afterall, if the PRC is the legal secessor state to the Manchu Empire, shouldn't the ancestral homeland of the Manchu be their prime focus???

problem here is the Russians have nukes, and the southeast Asian countries are poor, so here comes the historical legacy claims on the South China Sea, and let's just let bygone be bygone on the Russian front.

Whirled Peas said...

I hadn't thought about why China doesn't claim the Russian Far East. Interesting question. As you say, Russia's nukes are certainly a big deterrent. Also I can't help thinking China feels confident it can draw the Russian Far East into its orbit using foreign direct investment and trade. And it can eventually overrun the region with Chinese immigrants who can serve as a Chinese influence from within Russia.

TaiwanJunkie said...

"I hadn't thought about why China doesn't claim the Russian Far East. Interesting question."

A question that can best be answered by Hitler. Why did he annex Austria first? It was the path of least resistance.

We still got 10-20% of the Taiwanese with very strong Chinese nationalistic tendencies, those elements were certainly present within Austria back in the days.

I agree, I think China figures demographic collapse of the Russian Far East can't be that far off, it'll just be a matter of time.