The Biden administration has approved funding for the first-ever transfer of US military equipment to Taiwan under a program typically saved for sovereign nations, according to a notification sent to Congress on Tuesday.
The package – which is part of the State Department’s foreign military financing (FMF) program – totals $80 million and will be paid for by US taxpayers.
“FMF will be used to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities through joint and combined defense capability and enhanced maritime domain awareness and maritime security capability,” the department wrote in its notification to Congress that was reviewed by CNN.
IT IS A SOVEREIGN NATION
De facto, yes.
But Taiwan themselves have never formally declared independence.
Taiwan is not a member of the UN, for example, and they have not applied.
Incorrect.
Taiwan has had a long and dramatic relationship with the United Nations, from being — as the Republic of China (ROC) — one of the founding members of the UN in 1945 to losing its seat at the National Security Council to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1971.
That is not the same as being a member state. Taiwan is not a member.
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states
back after 5 days…
They were a founding member of the UN.
Correct. The ROC was a founding member of the UN.
And they are not a member today. The PRC occupies that seat.
So we agree.
They don’t need to declare independence from anything… Does the US need to declare independence from Portugal? They were never part of Portugal…
Also, the UN does not have anything to do with being a sovereign nation. It just determines, well, if you’re a member of the UN.
On the anarchist planet that we live on, the UN actually does determine what is and isn’t a sovereign nation. Unless one or all of the world’s countries agree that shouldn’t be the case, of course.
I don’t think that a good parallel. The US did issue a formal declaration of independence, clearly communicated it to the whole world, and defended it successfully.
The situation with Taiwan is much more ambiguous, as I don’t think independence has been the goal. It’s more a civil war that never really ended, and the US giving weapons to one side clearly disturbs the status quo. Of course China is also constantly looking to disturb it in their favor, so all of it is a very delicate balancing act…
The US issued a declaration of Independence… from Britain. Not Portugal.
Taiwan == ROC. The ROC was the original government of China. China == PRC. ROC has never in history been a part of PRC. There is as much reason for them to declare independence from PRC as there is for the US to declare independence from Portugal.
PRC are the ones who broke away from ROC, so they are the ones to declare independence.
You just chose to ignore the fact that the PRC claims Taiwan as their territory, while Portugal makes no such claim over the US.
I claim France as my territory. Why has France not declared independence?
I’ll help you get there. Do you have an army of 2 million men, and spend 300 billion dollars a year on weapons?
Because the PRC does, and they do claim ROC as theirs.