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@xertsaa @BeijingDai I personally would only count US and China. But if you really wanted to add more countries I would suggest expeditionary capability is a good marker And by those metrics UK and FR retain logistics capability to deploy as far as asia. India and Russia are notable for other reasons

@CJH_VJC @BeijingDai russia is definitely overstated in great power conversations, but theres no way you can say the UK can belong but russia does not. But if looking at china, america and russia, you would be right to say that russia is the odd one out

I was starting to wonder why the UK is listed alongside China, the US, and Russia as a great power — then I realized the author is British.

@carlworker Is allowing your nations trade policy be dictated by a "us or them" ultimatum, to the extent that failing to acquiesce to any demand is considered, on a pragmatic basis to always be unwise? National security types may consider this unwise, even if Agriculture might love it.

In thinking about the appropriate limit of NZ political dealings with Taiwan, it is useful to recall that China has already allowed NZ extremely preferential dealings with Taiwan in the trade and economic area, beyond all other comparable countries except Singapore, and we should be extra caution about jeopardising those for the sake of pretty valueless parliamentary jaunts. Except for Singapore, NZ is the only country in the world with a free trade agreement with Taiwan outside the small group of mainly micro states that still recognise Taiwan instead of China. There was a brief window around 2012-13 when China chose to turn a blind eye to NZ and Singapore concluding free trade deals with Taiwan. It could not have happened without China’s tacit blessing as if China had made it a “them or us” issue there would have been no contest. China chose not to oppose the deals. With the rise of the DPP in Taiwan shortly after, unfriendly to China, the window closed and China made it a “them or us” issue for every other country. No one else has been brave or reckless enough to take China on, so NZ and Singapore remain the only outside countries with free trade access to Taiwan guaranteed by formal agreements. It would be madness through carelessness let alone bloodymindedness to provoke China to reconsider its “blind eye” approach to NZ’s FTA with Taiwan.

@carlworker Why is concession to the US considered greasing, and concession to China considered wisdom?

Possible that it is a shot across the bows of the Luxon smug attitude that we can endlessly grease up to the US and poke China in the eye without any consequences for the China relationship.

@carlworker @PaulLambertNZ Then perhaps diversification may be wise.

@PaulLambertNZ China getting upset is a problem when it is by far our largest trading partner.

This is disingenuous. The issue is not really the travel to Taiwan per se but what they do there and whether the terms of the invitation (ie if all costs are covered by Taiwan) make it impossible to avoid senior level meetings with government figures and other events serving the Taiwan authorities’ PR agenda which China sees as directed against its interests.

@carlworker And what would be wise? How do you know continual concession to China is any more constructive?

Very unwise to be escalating things in this way. We have been skating on thin ice for some time. Unlikely to get us anywhere constructive.

@GabrielCor54922 @michaelturton A more accurate statement is "Taiwan cannot reunify with a nation ruled by the CCP, for the CCP has never ruled over Taiwan. It can only be conquered for the first time."

@michaelturton While I very much sympathise with Taiwan's struggle for independence, I find this line unconvincing. Taiwan was ruled by the Qing. The Manchu may have not been Chinese to begin with, but their dynasty was based in Beijing after all. Calling the Qing "non-Chinese" is questionable.

"permanent separation" is a pro-Beijing code term. Taiwan is not and never has been part of China.

@bunburyoudoujp What even is a failed Brit Unsatisfactory tea consumption rate? Didn't hit KPI on opium sales? What does that even mean?

“Tai Shan” every time I make an accurate statement about China.

@yokshisalted @corner_nov75169 Taiwanese people generally just dont wear traditional clothes. Not han, not manchu, not Japanese. We mostly wear t-shirts from Gu or uniqlo or whatever. 阿伯s like to opt for plastic sandals.

@CJH_VJC @corner_nov75169 他们看到台湾人穿马褂祭奠孔子时就不会惊讶了，当然中国政府同样在打击汉族复兴运动所以也好不到哪里去，不过至少现在中国大陆的年轻人是在努力的

I don’t understand why some people have so many negative opinions about China. I love Chinese culture, and I’m a fan of Zhang Linghe. One of my Chinese colleagues has been one of my best friends for the past four years.

@yokshisalted @corner_nov75169 I think the Qing would be rather surprised to hear that.

@CJH_VJC @corner_nov75169 台湾继承了满清文化，而中国大陆正在努力复兴汉文化，虽然政府在这里起了副作用，但是年轻人一直在努力

@nuanxin8 @kaiblvg @corner_nov75169 Yes. In that regard a formal debt of gratitude exists to the Allied powers and the RoC. But the mainlanders also killed a bunch of their academic friends during the white terror. So our feelings are quite mixed on the matter.

@CJH_VJC @kaiblvg @corner_nov75169 China sided with your great grandparents and you don’t like that?

@eddyyone11403 @corner_nov75169 I'm very happy about that. I saw XJP increasingly using traditional backdrops, and Chinese youth wearing hanfu. Hope it goes further. In Taiwan some practises are fading which is sad, but it is not uncommon to still see them in day to day life.

@CJH_VJC @corner_nov75169 I just feel that young people in Taiwan are far less enthusiastic about traditional culture than those in mainland China; in fact, China is currently undergoing a revival of traditional culture.

@kaiblvg @corner_nov75169 My condolences. My great grandparents were also brutalised by Japanese colonial authorities in Taiwan.

@CJH_VJC @corner_nov75169 My great Grandma was lost when she was traveling from Mainland China to Indonesia to be reunited with us. She was transiting at Hongkong when Japanese bombed the hell out of the place.

@eddyyone11403 @corner_nov75169 I did not claim Mainlanders do not know how to worship ancestors. I simply disputed your framing of the Taiwanese, and then provided additional historical context for your dismissal of our shared heritage in Taiwan's case.

@CJH_VJC @corner_nov75169 Do you really think mainland Chinese people don't know how to worship their ancestors, burn incense and paper money, or carve seals? I know the Cultural Revolution has been exaggerated to an extreme degree by many dissidents in their opposition to the CCP.

@eddyyone11403 @corner_nov75169 I have a clan hall, I burn joss paper, incense and pray to my ancestors. I believe in the value of 德 even, or especially in the modern era. I have a buffalo horn personal seal for official documents. I am 28 years old. I believe China burnt most of their clan halls, yes?

@CJH_VJC @corner_nov75169 The notion that Taiwan has inherited traditional Chinese culture is an unrealistic fantasy, especially since the younger generation in Taiwan knows no more about traditional Chinese culture than Chinese Americans do.

@Vystrcil_Milos @ChingteLai @SenatCZ Thank you, President Vystrčil, for your continued friendship and support for Taiwan.

Řád příznivých oblaků od prezidenta @ChingteLai vnímám především jako ocenění celého @SenatCZ. Byl to právě český Senát, který mě nejprve v roce 2020 a nyní opět v roce 2026 naprostou většinou hlasů senátorek a senátorů na plenárním zasedání podpořil a cestu na Taiwan a rozvíjení vztahů s Taiwanem mi naprosto jednoznačně jako předsedovi Senátu doporučil. 📸 Ethan Luo

@Yaduvanshi8999 Indeed. So perhaps we ought to stop going to war with universities and academic research budgets before all of my peers are poached by Tsinghua.

Chinese elite send their kids to study in the West. Their Leaders have studied in the West. Truth is, the US (West) has no competitor, it's not just economy but innovation, ideals, values, cultural heft, Education. China at max can copy. The West has won the global race.

@prolibertypod Isnt that free markets rather than capitalism necessarily. Legal commerce in the medieval era is distinct from corporate share buybacks but fulfils your definition.

Capitalism is actually based on the ridiculous notion that production and exchange should be consensual and voluntary. In philosophy, such behavior is called ‘morality’.

@JayNDonde It would probabaly help if the west didnt treat academics like contract roaming serfs...

Ballpark, how many Western academics are agents of the Chinese Communist Party paid to spread disinformation on social media?