Re: Another mass protest in Hong Kong following Beijing's new interpretation of Basic
The post and the final paragraph are a classic Chinese lecturing and scolding. It is in the culture of the Chinese to be such, while some "Chinese Gordon" types of (foreign) devils also adopt the trait, loudly and belligerently in their daily carryings on...
I'll just touch on a few points.
1. The pan-democrats did not "voluntarily" step aside. Some lost seats in the legislature due to "Operation Thunderbolt", started by Benny Tai, academic and co-founder of the Occupy Central movement. What it entailed was polling on votes by Tai and his team, then mass whatsapp/facebook texting to supporters to switch their votes from what were deemed "safe" traditional pan-dems to localists, in the hopes both pan dems and localists getting seats. It backfired immensely, as some traditional pan-dems lost seats, basically trading pan-democrats for localists in the legislature, further losing seats due to the oath fiasco, with possibly more to come.
2. Again, all referendums are non-binding under the Basic Law. So either side, including the pro-BJ government or legislators, can hold referendums, but they don't mean squat in this context. It's more or less a general poll. Hillary doesn't win the presidential election because a poll shows she won. The only possibility that a referendum would hold any legal sway is if the government issues a policy that follows such a referendum, and it is approved by Beijing. Which won't happen. Seriously, stop harping on about referendums...this isn't the UK.
3. Most of us have seen more than enough of those three imbeciles. No need to post their pics.
4. You're right, in all respects, Taiwan basically functions as a sovereign nation. But it doesn't change the fact that it is considered a province of China by every major nation on the globe, the UN, the Vatican, the Orthodox Church, and every major Imam of Sunni / Shiite Islam. Hell, almost half of the Taiwanese themselves consider Taiwan as a part of China. They just think Taiwan's system should be used throughout China, and dislike the CCP. In all respects, Taiwan's "sovereignty" is not infringed upon at all by the PRC, as it's technically not a nation. You could argue that the Philippines, Vietnam, or Singapore are undergoing infringement on their sovereignty, but that's another issue.
There's nothing any of us can say to change that except a declaration of independence by Taiwan, which has not been done, and will not be done, probably in our lifetimes.
The PRC can effectively take control of Taiwan, and constantly influences it through geopolitical and economic measures, which has been happening the past decades. They have just held back from taking the final step, which is a civil war. This is something that no one wants to see, hence this dancing around on this issue.
Even the US has stated that any preemptive strike by China would necessitate it coming to Taiwan's defense. But any unilateral declaration of independence by Taiwan, and the US would be free of it's obligations. There's a reason the previous DDP leader, Chen Shui Bian, and Tsai, have both never declared independence, even though they both run on such platforms.
Unlike our current president, everyone and their mother knows the CCP have a definite red line that they will never allow to be crossed in regards to Taiwan. The people in charge of China are very smart, but also cunning, and to be frank, ruthless, and willing to go to extremes. Any so-called declaration of independence by Taiwan will result in a huge regional and international crises. The PRC would rather bomb Taiwan into the East Asian Afghanistan in order to keep them from separating, the economy and international relations be damned. In this respect, they are much more direct and harsh than even Putin.
Plans have been in place, and continuously developed, for this scenario. White papers have hinted at the use of mass conventional missiles, smart bombs and satellite guided weapons, nuclear submarines with short-range ICBMs (including the possibility of chemical warheads), and spies and defectors taking out Taiwanese defenses and civil infrastructure. A simultaneous freeze of all Taiwanese assets in the PRC (which is a substantial part of its economy), with a mass of infantry and equipment crossing the straits at Fujian numbering in the tens of millions, planned to at least double that of the Taiwan population. Shooting down all military AND civilian aircraft entering or leaving Taiwan, that refuses to rerout and land in China.
They are willing to basically annihilate Taiwan in order to maintain control. So what is the point of harping about this issue? Either Taiwan gains enough strength as an individual territory to challenge the PRC (too small, too relatively poor, too isolated ), or the PRC itself changes, and the next generation of more open minded, Western-educated leaders open up and work with Taiwan together on this.