This a point of contention. We can learn a lot from history, Balfour agreement. The empire of the day can legitimise whatever they want using rubber-stamping institutions. It is always been this way right up to the present time. Note tose ruler straight-line borders in Iraq and Syria, ditto Israel. Straying a little to make my point, if you were Jewish, you just inherited your nation from thin air backed up with biblical rights. If you were Palestinian, you just lost half your lands because you were weak and the 'authority' of the day that colonised you decided your fate. Ditto India-Pakistan(Bangledesh). Decades and decades later, the source of contention in all these undemocratic splitting of lands just exacerbated the border conflicts.
Wrt Taiwan, it was always a status-quo One China policy for the West because it suited. I can only go by gut feel to comment that the West achieved their part goal of opening up China using globalization in the win-win justification instead of raping a country dry from past colonial methods. The other part goal was not achieved, to democratise China to be like the US/West. I think from China's standpoint, centuries of colonialisation and bullying taught them not to repeat the same mistakes as their dynastic idiotic kings. Unity was always a Chinese problem and the resulting suffering of its people chiefly from the shame and indignity of kowtowing to foreign invaders is much more detrimental to their souls than famine!
What they are now following are strategies that the West have utilised with great success such as debt traps, influence peddlings, etc but the difference is that it was not performed with violence. You only have to look at Africa especially Congo where the West raped it for what its got UG and continue to prolong the problem. Trade by offering investments and return for raw materials instead of colonising. On QandA Monday, I am amazed the Lin senator focused on of pacific Is commenting that China was influence peddling and opening up embassies. Well hello unless Oz wants to colonise it, we had embassies there for DECADES. Look around SE Asia, how many US military bases are there? Then look at how many Chinese ones?
Let's look at Iraq invasion ver 2? Democracy, WMD threat, Al-Qaida or just OIL? How about Syria and Libya?
Ok, I am ramblings. No, I am not Sinophile, but the benefits we are getting from 2-way trades is much more interesting than Scomo punching above the weight now having to clean up the injuries and us reading propaganda spiced up in nationalistic overtones.
And lastly, the Tweet pictorial of the kid I think has some merit in that there were slitting of throats alleged in the war crime investigations. We just lost our moral high ground authority regardless if we are an open society and all those warm fuzzy freedom and democracy aspects. Over to you Scomo, the minute there is a hint of a threat to iron ore, you know there are 4 entities with very long knives for starter.
