I have to say, Taiwan is a relative blindspot for me. Don't really know much about its history and the present day foreign policy implications. All I know is that I see plenty of people, both liberals and conservatives, lamenting over what China might or might not do.
Can someone please provide a brief rundown of what's happening? What's the relevant history? What's going on in the present? What exactly is their relationship with China?
Taiwan was a native polynesian island for a long long time. then Chinese colonists started going over some time like 500 years ago iirc. during their imperial era Japan annexed Taiwan as Japanese Formosa. following the capitulation of Japan in ww2 it was given to the nationalist Republic of China, who were fighting Mao at the time. following the total collapse of the Chinese nationalist forces, they ran away to Taiwan. so the new Peoples Republic of China claims it as obviously a part of China, and Taiwan says they are still the whole of China who have sovereignty over all of China. the US uses Taiwan as a thorn in the side of the Peoples Republic of China because it is just off the coast of the mainland.
so it's basically the last remnants of a reactionary government the US has propped up for 70 years, that should rightfully be a part of China. China does not want to kill the people there, they see them as Chinese and under a false government that already lost the civil war, and they want Taiwan to 'rejoin' the whole of China. the US ofc are scared China might take Taiwan and the US would lose this very strategic position just off the coast that helps to 'encircle' China with US backed nations they can attack China from and contain Chinese influence.
So people living in Taiwain do in fact see themselves as part of China?
It's more complicated than that. There's a section of the population that still views themselves as native Taiwanese, and the mainlanders as an invasive force, and there's also a section that sees themselves as descended from China culturally, but as a separate nationality.
It's my understanding that "we're chinese, full stop" parties are KMT affiliated, generally represent the right-wing and the rich who want to continue investing in china (much like the west), whereas the DPP affiliated parties generally represent the left and the urban and rural poor, who are more likely to be closer to the native islanders and more skeptical of China. Though I'm sure that's an over simplification.
unfortunately, the native Taiwanese people are very very much a tiny minority compared to the Chinese. they were thoroughly genocided over several centuries. the population of Taiwan is 23 million, the native population is 500,000
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yes, they see themselves as Chinese. they speak Mandarin, they write in traditional Chinese, the government is called The Republic of China, and the government claims to be the one and only legitimate Chinese government over the entire of China.
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yeah it's more nuanced than just the KMT's line, but outwardly they still do officially claim to be the legitimate government of China and were recognised as so until the thaw of PRC relations with much of the west in the 70s. the line of them being an independent country is much like Hong Kong though in that they want to be independent to be an outpost of imperialism and to contain China. they are a part of China and an illegitimate government held up by imperialists
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I don't think the PRC wants to invade. for one, it's obviously a really bad look and they do pride themselves on not having been at war for a long time unlike America. it would also be very violent and nobody wants that. eventually Taiwan is gonna capitulate to the mainland imo, the benefits outweigh the weakening US empire being there. Taiwan built itself up off of finance, an industry that is collapsing more and more, where the mainland has actual industrial and state capacity to do things
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