[Bombard]

Taiwan has been considered part of China for several hundred years. Now think if California was voting for independence, would the national government stand for something like that. I think not. The USA is committed to one China. What the USA is against is the mainland imposing a government on Taiwan. This referendum is a mistake and the Taiwanese government is playing with fire.

[zook]

I think California is not a good analogy. Maybe Midway Island or Puerto Rico is. If they really wanted independence, I think we would eventually allow it. There's no question that China is too hypersensitive to this issue. Like a 4th grader fighting over who gets the root beer.
But I agree too that Taiwan is playing with fire. No sense in riling up the Chinese right now. No use in it at all.

[tellw]

Taiwan has been considered part of China for several hundred years. Now think if California was voting for independence, would the national government stand for something like that. I think not. The USA is committed to one China. What the USA is against is the mainland imposing a government on Taiwan. This referendum is a mistake and the Taiwanese government is playing with fire.

China never considered the island of Formosa theirs until the Nationalist government fled there in 1949. The USA is committed to One China but is also committed by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 to defend Taiwan, a pledge that President Bush reiterated in 2001.

That said, a referendum would not be prudent. Taiwan should instead continue to press for its admission to international organizations like WHO on humanitarian grounds, and pursue diplomatic relations with any country it can.