A question for those of you in China.

[mrswdk]

I'm not entirely sure what those visits are supposed to demonstrate. The mayors of major cities make international visits by themselves.

I love how you side-stepped Kim Jong Un's claim to rule over all of Korea. So if someone says he controls all of a territory, does that make it so?

I didn't address that point because I don't know the slightest thing about Korea. If Kim-Jong Un claims legitimate authority over an entire unified Korea then I have no idea whether or not he has a point.

Does every country need the U.N.'s stamp of approval to declare themselves sovereign?

If it wants to have legal status as a state and be treated as one under international law then yes, it needs UN recognition.

Everyone seemed to think Taiwan was its own country before China started rumbling her throat

No they didn't. They continued to recognize the Republic of China as the legitimate state and authority for all of China. Now they have removed recognition from the RoC and given it to the People's Republic.

Taiwan is a part of China. Except for a few hippies in the past 10-20 years, no one has ever disputed this.

[macbone]

Mrswdk, it's cool. You adopt the traditional Chinese mindset on Taiwan, and I'm coming at it from a non-Chinese/American/Taiwanese/Hong Kong mindset. I'm not going to change your mind, although I understand where you're coming from. You've helped me understand the PRC position more and given me an opportunity to explore the issue more myself. I hope that you can open yourself up to consider ideas other than CCP dogma.

Like you, I love China and the Chinese people. The government is corrupt and authoritarian, but it's my hope that China continues to move more in the direction of true government for, of, and by the people. We can love a person, place, or thing and still maintain analytical thought, and yes, constructive criticism. I know that it's easier for me than you, given the much tighter restrictions on free speech and access to information in the mainland.

It saddens me when I talk to students who say that they're instructed in what to think in their classes. I had students like that in the US, too, soldiers, future officers who told me in class that the Army basically did the same thing, told them how to think. These two guys were bright young fellas, and they talked about how their training conditioned them.

It's cool, mrswdk. The great thing about democracy is that you and I are free to disagree. Thanks for the workout. =)

[mrswdk]

Mrswdk, it's cool. You adopt the traditional Chinese mindset on Taiwan, and I'm coming at it from a non-Chinese/American/Taiwanese/Hong Kong mindset. I'm not going to change your mind, although I understand where you're coming from. You've helped me understand the PRC position more and given me an opportunity to explore the issue more myself. I hope that you can open yourself up to consider ideas other than CCP dogma.

None of what I said is dogma. Those are just the facts of the situation.

Like you, I love China and the Chinese people. The government is corrupt and authoritarian, but it's my hope that China continues to move more in the direction of true government for, of, and by the people. We can love a person, place, or thing and still maintain analytical thought, and yes, constructive criticism. I know that it's easier for me than you, given the much tighter restrictions on free speech and access to information in the mainland.

lol. If my (and khazalid's) use of this website was subject to censorship controls then about 90% of his and my postings would have been deleted by now.

I'm well aware that China has its problems. I'm not a podling.

It saddens me when I talk to students who say that they're instructed in what to think in their classes. I had students like that in the US, too, soldiers, future officers who told me in class that the Army basically did the same thing, told them how to think. These two guys were bright young fellas, and they talked about how their training conditioned them.

I don't like that either. Take heart in knowing that it almost never works - in my experience, the only thing achieved by compulsory Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought classes is to condition students to switch off and day dream whenever they hear either of those schools of thought get mentioned.