Escalating tensions...
...And that's not between my roommates and I. ;) They (all three of them) are very sweet and eager to talk to me in english and help me with my chinese (though they are VERY loud!). No, this is tension of the potentially scary kind, between China and Taiwan.
The two countries have always had an uncomfortable relationship. Tomorrow, 2-28, marks the annaversary of what many call "the Taiwanese holocoust". What happened was after WWII, Taiwan (Formosa) was taken from Japan by the Chinese. This was a good thing until the Chinese government proved to be corrupt. On Feb. 28th, 1947, a woman selling cigarettes without a licence was killed by the Chinese government, which sparked a massive riot and ended up with China murdering and imprisoning teachers, lawyers, doctors and anyone else opposed to Chinese rule. About 28,000 people were killed.
Which is why Taiwanese Pres. Chen Shui-bian's decision to terminate the Chinese reunification council at this time is particularly striking. See, China takes a "one country, two systems" stance in regards to Taiwan (and Hong Kong, too, FYI) because Taiwan has a democracy and operates simi-independently. However, China has blocked Tawan's acceptance into the UN as an independent country, and the US doesn't recognize it as such, either. However, China has put continual pressure on Taiwan for eventual reunification, which puts Tawan's democratic future at risk. This current president is very pro-independence, which I think rocks (though I'm tryng to remain unbaised, or at least open-minded, since I don't live here and am trying to learn). So disolving this council at this time is a bit of a slap in the face to China.
The US is a bit of a nervous nancy about all this, though I am impressed that they offered to provide military assistance to Taiwan should China become aggressive. But in that case, it's quite possible that all countries would quickly choose sides and all of a sudden it's WWIII. That's actually a real possibility. Which, when I really think about it, is absolutely terrifying, and in which case don't worry mom, I'd be on the first flight home.
BUT, what's more likely in that situation (I tell myself) is that everyone would side with the US and China would back down and we'd all go have ShabuShabu. Or Taiwan would back down and we'd all go learn Mandarin Chinese. Or they'd negotiate like civilized people and we'd all go have bubble tea.
No one here seems overly concerned. Not many of the students I talk to about this read the news or want to talk about it. So I'm not too concerned. Truth be told I find the whole thing fascinating, even the scary parts.
In other news, my friends and I made a fruit salad the other day and passed it out to people walking by on campus. They were terrified and no doubt view us as hairy forigeners.
posted by Unknown at 8:05 AM
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