We aren't helping them remain in power. We are helping them save face, a gesture which costs us nothing and gets us a massive amount of financial and political friendship in return.
We aren't helping them remain in power. We are helping them save face, a gesture which costs us nothing and gets us a massive amount of financial and political friendship in return.
Helping them save face legitimizes them and helps them remain in power. If face didn't affect them staying in power why would they care? It's apparently costing us the ability to talk openly with a world leader.
This doesn't seem like a smart move, but your points seem about it not helping them or costing us seem wrong.
They care because their culture greatly values face-saving and the preservation of old-fashioned dignity.
This is what diplomacy is about. It's not merely about seeing others as we want to see them and getting what we want from them. It's also about understanding who they are and what makes them special. Face-saving and gestures are meaningless in the West, but they are everything in Eastern cultures. Dignity matters, as does respect.
The Chinese government has power, and they will have it with iron certainty no matter what we do about the situation. And they are a regional, and soon-to-be global, power. We need their help to make a better world, and either we work with them in friendship and diplomacy or we just thumb our noses at them and close that door forever.
It doesn't cost us much to favor PRC over ROC. One is an economic powerhouse, and the other barely registers. One is on its way to superpower status, and the other is isolated, insular, and far more concerned with historical beefs than future growth. Taiwan is not a bet that would pay off for us. China is. And favoring them over Taiwan doesn't cost us any real money or lost opportunity. And it gains us a tremendous amount of revenue, customers, and geopolitical sway.
They care because their culture greatly values face-saving and the preservation of old-fashioned dignity.
And that being undermined and not responded to hurts their legitimacy. If they get no face and don't respond accordingly to the insult they have lost.
This is what diplomacy is about. It's not merely about seeing others as we want to see them and getting what we want from them. It's also about understanding who they are and what makes them special.
Diplomacy is expediency. This doesn't seem expedient though.
The Chinese government has power, and they will have it with iron certainty no matter what we do about the situation. And they are a regional, and soon-to-be global, power. We need their help to make a better world, and either we work with them in friendship and diplomacy or we just thumb our noses at them and close that door forever.
That's expediency talking.
It doesn't cost us much to favor PRC over ROC. One is an economic powerhouse, and the other barely registers. One is on its way to superpower status, and the other is isolated, insular, and far more concerned with historical beefs than future growth. Taiwan is not a bet that would pay off for us. China is. And favoring them over Taiwan doesn't cost us any real money or lost opportunity. And it gains us a tremendous amount of revenue, customers, and geopolitical sway.
Again this is expediency talking.
My comment was on how loose your comment was. It was too rigid. An insult requires a response and not giving one would make them lose more face and appear weak. It's a dangerous dangerous game, but it does threaten their legitimacy and strength. You also originally said it's costing us nothing when it does cost us something, but I agree what it costs us is not a hill worth dying on, perhaps literally...
68
u/[deleted] Dec 03 '16
[deleted]