this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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He is not technically wrong, as the Taiwanese themselves haven't declared independence from China.
So they are not independent then. not even their staunchest ally (USA) recognizes their Independence, so I don't see where is the controversy with Irish PM's statement.
Was there a controversy?
Yes, but that stems more from the fact that the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China both lay claims to be the real China.
You can't really declare independence from yourself.
Also the PRC would probably attack immediately if the ROC gave up their claim on being china.
Because the PRC has set this as a red line. The Taiwanese would do it in a heartbeat.
No, it's because they claim sovereignty over the whole of China + parts who already are independent from the People's Republic of China. They are not independent, just the old regime in exile. To them Taiwan is just a province of China just as it is for the PRC
Interestingly China would also be quite upset if Taiwan stopped claiming sovereignty over the mainland. To them that would signal an end to the one China policy. So Taiwan maintaining its claim to the mainland is actually to keep China happy. I don't think the Taiwan government is under any illusion that they will someday take over the mainland.
It sounds extremely convoluted that a government considering itself "rightful" (ROC/Taiwan) who fought and lost a war with revolutionaries (PRC/"China") would continue the claim that led to a war to not piss off the revolutionaries?
Is this some homebrew theory or do you have a source?
Not some home brew theory. And it is very convoluted, but it's bascially more "one China" policy word games.
The Taiwanese president unofficially stated in 1991 they do not claim mainland China, but this was never affirmed by courts and there's no force of law behind it. They cannot officially do this currently without greatly antagonizing China. China's view is that Taiwan limiting its borders to include only Taiwan and not all of China, would signal the end of the "one China" policy and be a precursor to Taiwanese independence. If Tawain were to declare different national borders that include only the island itself, then China would view it as a violation of their anti secession law passed in 2005, which threatens military force in retaliation. In China's view, they are another government still within China and still in civil war, without the authority to re-define national borders.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Secession_Law
Continuing to claim mainland China as part of the same country is continuing the current status quo, any deviations from that would be viewed as an attempted separation of "indivisable" China. So the claim to the mainland at this point in history is primarily to not antagonize China and continue the status quo situation.