"You Will Never Understand".....

I have never understood the apparent deep rooted Chinese need to be united under one government in in Beijing. As it is explained to me, all Chinese want to have a unified China [I doubt the claim that ALL want it...I figure that a substantial portion just don't care]. I am very curious about this since I personally do not see the need or the advantages of doing so, particularly if it involves war and risks a potentially a larger conflict. So, I have been told that "I will never understand." This is right, I will never understand, and truthfully, I don't want to. Why would anyone want to be ruled by the clowns in Beijing?

There has been decades of rumblings on the status of Taiwan and things are seemingly coming to head and there is hope that a war can be avoided. Recent visits by opposition party leaders to Beijing are indicating a thaw of icy relationship that has existed since the Chinese Nationalists escaped to Taiwan following their defeat in the civil war following World War II.

``We must show the world that the Chinese people on either side of the Taiwan Strait have the ability and the wisdom to solve the contradictions and disagreements before us,'' Hu said in comments televised live across the mainland and Taiwan.

Finally, something intelligent comes out of the communist's mouths. But there is still no direct airlinks with Taiwan and the Taiwanese national airline, China Airlines, is not allowed to fly over PRC territory on its flights to Europe adding hours of additional flight time and inconvenience for people. How unbelievably juvenile. Do the clowns in Beijing really think that there is a danger or is this just petty posturings. Even North Korea allows overflights to international airlines!

One party rule by the communists in China is justified, in some circles, by the desire and need to reunite Taiwan with the mainland. This was one of Mao's remaining goals for China. However, all the other rubbish, such as a global revolution and communist utopia have been flushed down the toilet of history.

And for the record, unless someone can prove to me otherwise, Taiwan really hasn't been a part of China. Rule by China has been sporadic at best and I outline as follows:

Up until Dutch colonization and occupation 1624-1662, the island was home to an aboriginal population of ethnic Malay-Polynesian peoples.

While the Ming Dynasty was collapsing under Manchu aggression, a Ming loyalist pirate named Koxinga defeated the Dutch in 1662 but by 1683, the last remnants of the Ming were defeated.

The Manchu's did not hold sway or administration over the island of Taiwan and subsequent attempts to control the island ended in defeat. Taiwan, even at this time wasn't a renegade island but an island full of renegades.

During the civil war and the subsequent Manchu period, many Chinese refugees left for the calmer and safer shores of Taiwan to escape famine and war on the mainland.

Taiwan was the home of pirates and other ruffians during the 1870's and they attacked ships belonging to European traders expanding their business in the region. The Manchu emperor, asked by these traders to protect and patrol this area was told that Taiwan was beyond Manchu territory.

In 1887, European complaints of piracy, the occupation of Northern Taiwan for nine months by the French and Japanese expansionism in the region drove the Manchu emperor into action, declaring Taiwan to be be a Chinese province. This lasted less than a decade and the Japanese were deeded control of the island in perpetuity after the Manchu defeat in the Sino-Japanese war.

Post World War II, the Chinese Nationalists under General Chaing Kai Shek were given temporary authority to occupy Taiwan on behalf of Allied forces.

This became more-or-less permanent when the Nationalist fled Taiwan after their defeat in the civil war at the hands of Mao's communists.

So, therefore, I am not an adherent to the concept that Taiwan is a renegade province and that control should or needs to be ceded back to Beijing. Taiwan has a very separate history and has developed into a vibrant and dynamic economy and democracy. It would truly be ashame if the world allows the mandarins in Beijing to ruin this.