Comment by krunck

"Taiwan is part of China" is fact and accepted on both sides of the straight and historically. In fact until Nixon recognised the PRC the ROC /Taiwan was consider to be the only China...

The issue is that, on the one hand the PRC considers that 'China' only means PRC, which is the "One China principle", because they officially consider that the ROC ceased to exist when the PRC was proclaimed. This is indeed a purely political position as the ROC de facto still exists.

Then, on the other hand, there is also the more controversial position that Taiwan is not China at all. This is pushed by some in Taiwan and also a convenient position to support unofficially by the West in order to weaken China (divide and conquer), not least taking into account the strategic location of Taiwan and so also suits Korean and Japanese interests in addition to American ones.

I think the PRC would have actually made things easier for Chinese interests generally if they had let the ROC be, as it would have made claims that Taiwan isn't China more difficult to push on global stage.

The one china principle is unrelated to the one country two systems concept that you are linking.

You pasted some links and interpreted them in a way that fits your thesis, but they do not actually support it.

> Taiwan is de facto recognised by most of the West

By 'de facto' do you mean what exactly? That they sell them goods? Is this what you call 'recognition'? They also sell weapons to 'freedom fighters' in Africa, the Middle East, and South America.

Officially, Taiwan is not a UN member and is not formally recognized as a state by any Western country.

Countries that recognize Taiwan officially are: Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See, Marshall Islands, Palau, Paraguay, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Eswatini and Tuvalu.

And the list is shrinking every year[1][2], and it will shrink even more as China becomes economically stronger.

> and--I suspect soon--India

You suspect wrong. That article about India is from 2022. It didn't happen in 3 years and it will not happen for obvious geopolitical reasons.

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/29/honduras-tai...

2. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67978185

What do you base your expectations on? Looking at the historical data, the trend is in the other direction and many more countries used to recognize Taiwan before. [1]

In case you're not aware, you need to pick if you recognise Taiwan of mainland China. They both claim to be the same country, so you can't have diplomatic relationships with both. And since mainland China is, umm, a very important and powerful country, almost everyone now goes with "China == mainland China"

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Ch...

That's actually interesting that it wouldn't come right out and say that "Taiwan is a sacred and inseparable part of China's territory."