this should end well

  • Oso_Rojo [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I can’t find any reason why Pelosi wants to go to Taiwan in the first place. No news article gives a reason. Is it safe to assume it has something to do with chip manufacturing? US auto makers are probably shitting their pants about all the cars parked on their lots waiting for chips, I imagine they’re leaning real hard on their politicians to do something about it.

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, I'm guessing on Pelosi's end this is more about chip manufacturing, which I imagine is seen as a national security issue. On China's end,I think it's standard practice for them to object to any formal recognition of Taiwan, and they're probably seeing if America blinks, but I doubt they want to escalate beyond that. Imo the fact that chip manufacturing is so important to the west makes this much different from Russia-Ukraine. A war with China will be devastating for everyone, but US and Europe will absolutely go to war while Taiwan is so pivotal to virtually every military, consumer, and industrial product in the west

      • eduardog3000 [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I wonder if they would still be independent if it wasn't for that.

        Or is it an entire country that exists just to make computer chips.

        • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          The country exists because of cold war (I guess technically pre-cold war) era anti-communism, and there were plans of launching an invasion of China through Taiwan. But I think computer chip manufacturing is giving them an additional layer of safety.

          • yellowparenti5 [none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            The KMT does not represent Taiwan. If the kmt never arrived and took over, Taiwanese would still not have identified as Chinese in nationality.

            However, if the Qing dynasty put more effort into actually controlling and governing ALL of Taiwan, and not just small parts of it, and Japan never took over, and if the kmt never retreated to Taiwan, then that would be a different story but we don't live in that timeline do we.

            Taiwan was always an island of non importance to the Qing dynasty until it became part of a naval trade route.

            • A_Serbian_Milf [they/them]
              ·
              2 years ago

              The KMT/DPP reactionaries and anti-communists actually do represent Taiwan now because they colonized it and killed and fully repressed the locals. This is why Taiwan should not be allowed to be “independent” from China, because it will just be a de facto military base for the Western imperialists.

              Taiwan is China, nobody disagrees with this. Not Taiwanese people nor Chinese people. The only disagreement is who is the legitimate government of China as a whole, and the answer to that is obviously the PRC

              • yellowparenti5 [none/use name]
                ·
                edit-2
                2 years ago

                Taiwan is already independent from China. The Qing dynasty did control small parts of it for like 250 years.

                will just be a de facto military base for the Western imperialists.

                Taiwan isn't a military base for anyone, not even itself. It's no Okinawa or Ukraine. Everyone agrees that their military is shit.

                Taiwan is China, nobody disagrees with this.

                The only people who actually agree with this are Chinese nationalists, either from mainland China or extremely old KMT people in Taiwan.

                The KMT/DPP reactionaries and anti-communists actually do represent Taiwan now because they colonized it and killed and fully repressed the locals.

                It was the KMT who repressed the locals. Look up the white terror period. And they're from China. The CPC should bring them back to China and redistribute their stolen assets/land. Anything taken from China should be returned to China. Anything taken from locals in Taiwan should be redistributed or returned. The DPP is just a party that counters the KMT.

                • A_Serbian_Milf [they/them]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  2 years ago

                  The Taiwanese rightoid defender had logged on

                  China will be united again and there’s nothing you angloid colonial apologists can do about it

                  The DPP is the liberal icing on top of the fascist KMT foundation. They don’t “oppose” the KMT in any real meaningful sense, they are the equivalent of the post Pinochet “liberal” government in Chile - that is how fascist color revolts and outposts work, you put in a fascist dictator until you suppress the contradictions and kill the commies (white terror), then put in a liberal puppet to keep people content and manufacture legitimacy. Happened in Japan and South Korea too. Defending the DPP is like defending the modern South Korean government.

                  It’s a continuation of the same leadership class, and those DPP crypto-fascists will be destroyed and their junta government destroyed

                  South Korea and Taiwan will both be decolonized

    • anadyr [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Look up the CHIPS bill that's making it's way through Congress right now. $52 billion to boost chip production in the US. Mr Pelosi also invested a few million into Nvidia very recently.

      • Oso_Rojo [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        $52 billion to inevitably offshore chip production to a different developing nation, good stuff :brrrrrrrrrrrr:

          • DefinitelyNotAPhone [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I would be shocked if any sizeable portion of that money goes to building anything instead of stock buybacks. We've seen this same song and dance with the telecomm industry putting down fiber and the airlines during COVID.

            • ssjmarx [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              This song and dance goes back decades. I still remember the first one I learned about was when the government gave billions to airlines in the 70s in order to prevent them from doing mass layoffs, and the airlines did the layoffs anyway.

          • Crackpot_Posadist [they/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            They'll probably just do the bare minimum of final assembly to count as built in the USA. So, build 95% of the chip with slaves in Qatar or something then run it through a "rubber stamp" factory (that's just a warehouse) with ten MIC grifter guys running it.

          • Oso_Rojo [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            No idea, I just assume any manufacturing done in the US will invariably go somewhere with lower operating costs in the shortsighted pursuit of profit

          • FirstToServe [they/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Bernie couldn't even get an amendment that prevents them from using the money on stock buybacks.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The US political class has been pretty clear that they want to start a hot war with China for whatever goddamn :brainworms: reason.