China and Taiwan Dispute: Why Relations Are So Tense
NTL: Looking ahead to the China and Taiwan, Taiwan is also known as the republic of China. It’s an island separated from China by the Taiwan Strait. The following has been an independent mainland of China. People here are officially declared as citizens of Republic of China since 1949. Taiwan has its own democratic rule with elections and has a population of nearly twenty three million people. This also has its own political parties and relationships with the mainland.
Since 2016, some cross strait tensions have emerged during the election of Taiwanese president Tsai-Ing-Wen. It happened as like he refused to accept the predecessor formula allowing endorsement for increased cross strait ties.
History between China and Taiwan
Getting back to the history, China and Taiwan were like two brothers from a single mother. But the first settlers across the Taiwan were considered to be some tribal people from Austronesia and they were believed to have come from the modern southern of China. As per the Chinese records, the island first appeared in the AD 239 and later was taken under terrorist attack by Beijing. Since 1st of October tension has been growing between China and Taiwan. This occurred like when China was observing its national day to mark the birth of PRC. This date coincided with the 72nd anniversary celebration and China flew around 100 fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defense through its identification zone. This started the growth of tension over the Taiwan and gave birth to an alarm relating to the takeover of the island by force.
China and Taiwan Economic Relations
It was on the month of December 1987 when Taiwan lifted ban over the travel to China for the close relatives. There were full relaxations counted on restrictions of travelling for the Taiwan travelers who visited China and it started on full fledge from December 2008 with the opening of direct flights. The words go on with the way, when the government relocated to Taiwan in the year 1949. Later there were proper jurisdiction been let on Taiwan towns, Penghu islands, kinmen islands, Matsu as well as some of the nearby islands. But that time Taiwan was under the control of Beijing and this was truly the beginning of acceleration of the Taiwan’s democratization in the late of 1980’s. Even many restrictions were noted to have developed on civil exchanges with China, were lifted. As of financial relations, Taiwan is considered as one of the biggest investors in China. It was around the 1991 to the end of March 2021, there were some where 44,056 cases of investments in China total of US$ 188.5 billion. Even in the year 2019, the value of the cross-strait trade was counted over US$149.2 billion. On the same year the tour and travelling sources from China was around 2.68 million visits to Taiwan.
What is China doing to Taiwan
China has always been over powered and for that reason it tried to take over the nearby islands. Among them Taiwan was the main one. It was around the 1980’s when both shared a good bonding and China brought forward the concept of one country and two systems. With this Taiwan was given autonomy if it accepted the Chinese re-unification. Later this system was counted on in Hong Kong and showcased the power to get back the Taiwanese people back to their land. But with certain deformities, Taiwan rejected the offer and at the same time relaxed its rules. These were basically imposed on visits and touring as well as on financial investments in China. Later in the year 1991, the war proclaimed over the locations of mainland. So China wants to divide Taiwan and rule over it. For that it has been deliberately increasing military pressure over Taiwan. As Beijing says, Taiwan has been a province of China. So unification is the main goal of Xi Jinping the Chinese leader, who has not yet ruled out taking Taiwan by force. Even Taiwan democratic rule has been pinching China as there is no need of Taiwan to declare independence.
Further the situations between both worsened and only limited talks were permitted between official representatives. Even long meetings were postponed due to these issues.
What threat Taiwan takeover by China possess for the World
The international communities are highly condemning the belligerence of China towards Taiwan. A great change has been seen on US relationships with China and Taiwan. The relationship started under Donald Trump and now Biden administration has pledged to continue the tough lines on China. It has delivered its rock solid commitments to the Taiwan government and at the same time has demonstrated it as a multi-lateral effort. Later in this week, US have led accusation over Beijing of provoking the proactive military activity. The fact is, it would destabilize and lead to risks miscalculations with undermining the regional peace. Even US has maintained a perfect policy of strategic ambiguity as an effort to deter the action by either side. On the other side, Taiwan is outgunned to an extreme level by the Chinese military. The Taiwan government is buying weapons from US but some of the experts said, it was long back when Taiwan was building its infrastructure. Looking ahead to the recent threats, China has sent around 100 fighter jets over the air defense zone of Taiwan and even a buffer was located outside the island’s air space. China is looking forward to capture Taiwan as a part of its territory. For the reason, its increasing militarization in the region and the geopolitical talks of the threat of war has been put ahead on edge. Not just public, but WHO is also looking forward to see if further war is going to take place or not. More of information collected says that Taiwan is set to deepen its relationships with US, EU, Australia, Japan and Indian government. This would help it emphasis its importance in the global economy and that too with becoming a leading supplier of the semiconductors.
How Japan and other Countries are reacting
The China and Taiwan relationship has been growing as a big threat for future. It is expected to bring out a great global threat with war further. The reason can be an extraordinary power of China which is not just politically but also with a perfectly strong military pressure bringing new changes to living of Taiwanese people. With some news reports, it is found that Japan is supporting Taiwan against China. This is only going to defend the islands which are being into lime light from Chinese attack. But this will move forward only if being called by U.S. or if any kind of conflicts arises under Japanese control. China is repeatedly putting pressure on Taiwan to get it under its control. But hopefully everything gets into track with helps from various countries which are highly expected. Even Tokyo is expected to join the U.S. led defense of Taiwan as it bears a strong historical alliance with the Washington. This includes 70 years of relationship.