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IPFS News Link • Taiwan

I Didn't Join the Military to Fight for Taiwan

• https://libertarianinstitute.org, by Dan McKnight

I'm not talking about Ukraine, even though we continue to pump that country full of billions of dollars in weapons and supplies in a proxy war against Russia.

I'm talking about Taiwan, located off the coast of China in the Pacific Ocean.

Joe Biden just promised to defend it with the full military might of the United States.

When I joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, and later the Idaho Army National Guard, I signed up to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights—not Taipei.

Here's the story.

After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, and Chairman Mao consolidated the rule of the Communist Party in Beijing, a small collection of anti-communists flew the coop and established themselves on the island of Formosa, about 100 miles from the mainland.

That's where they've been ever since, developing from a military dictatorship to a parliamentary democracy with two major parties. One wants closer integration with Beijing, the other wants full independence.

Both Taipei and Beijing claim to be the legitimate government of all of China.

In the 1970s, our government normalized relations with the Chinese mainland, and de-recognized the "Republic of China" in Taiwan, severing diplomatic relations and abrogating a defense pact.

For over 40 years since then our foreign policy has been guided by "strategic ambiguity." We recognize there is "One China," but that there's some creases we'd like to see ironed out peacefully and without violence.


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