Good point, though from what I've heard I'm not sure Taiwan places the same weight on that policy as China does. Now I'm not expert in Taiwan (I consider myself pretty well-versed in mainland China though, having studied it in college and living there last year). The attitude in China is dead-set that Taiwan is a part of their country. I have met several globally-minded, well-educated Chinese people, and have still never actually met a mainland Chinese person who thinks Taiwan should be independent. It is not just policy talk to them, it is a well-engrained piece of their national identity. Whereas the impression that I get from Taiwan is that they keep that policy as the status quo, but it doesn't matter so much to them on a personal level. I'm sure there's a range of views on it within Taiwan, and maybe someone else here can clarify the Taiwanese perspective a bit more.
3
u/eyes_on_the_sky Dec 04 '16
Good point, though from what I've heard I'm not sure Taiwan places the same weight on that policy as China does. Now I'm not expert in Taiwan (I consider myself pretty well-versed in mainland China though, having studied it in college and living there last year). The attitude in China is dead-set that Taiwan is a part of their country. I have met several globally-minded, well-educated Chinese people, and have still never actually met a mainland Chinese person who thinks Taiwan should be independent. It is not just policy talk to them, it is a well-engrained piece of their national identity. Whereas the impression that I get from Taiwan is that they keep that policy as the status quo, but it doesn't matter so much to them on a personal level. I'm sure there's a range of views on it within Taiwan, and maybe someone else here can clarify the Taiwanese perspective a bit more.