20 December 2009

Two different anti-China protests

I think everyone is used to anti-PRC protests in Taiwan, and also occasionally Hong Kong, but Macau made the news today because of a protest there. It wasn't nearly as large, but they were protesting the lack of democracy in Macau.

I think the Chinese attempt to use the "2 systems, 1 country" idea for running Hong Kong and Macau as part of their propaganda war in Taiwan has completely failed. The PRC promised Macau and Hong Kong that, if they just accepted PRC suzerainty, they could keep their internal political models. It should be obvious that PRC tinkering in both has been blatant and widespread. Democracy marches go through each all of the time, and while it should be granted that such marches would not even be allowed on the mainland, it's enough to show the Taiwanese that merging with China will destroy the democracy they've come to respect and love.

Which then leads to the fact that those who support "peaceful unification" as the ultimate end game in the Taiwan Straits are deluding themselves. I do not know any better than anyone else what the end game will be (or if we'll see an end game in our lifetimes), but it will certainly not be peaceful unification.

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