Xi Jinping told an EU leader that the US was trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, per the Financial Times, amid increasing tensions.
  • Xi Jinping accused the US of trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, the Financial Times said.
  • The Chinese leader made the claim to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, per the FT.
  • One expert told BI it’s a sign that China is “genuinely surprised” by the attitude of US officials.

…

For decades, the US has adopted “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan, positioning itself as the country’s most steadfast ally, while declining to explicitly say whether it would come to Taiwan’s aid if China attacked.

But the mood in Washington, DC, seems to be shifting, with Congress showing itself more “overtly supportive of Taiwan than only a few years ago,” Graeme Thompson, an analyst with the Eurasia Group, told Business Insider in November.

…

“The US has plenty of public figures now talking of Taiwan like it is a new Ukraine, and some even saying it needs to be diplomatically recognized,” Brown added.

  • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    Eh, no.

    Western Germany recognized the border between Poland - the Oder-Neisse line in 1970.

    Additionally, while Western Germany recognized the GDR was its own state - starting 1972 - they didn’t recognize its right to exist under international law. The German constitution stated up until the reunification:

    The whole German People remains compelled to fulfill the Unity and Freedom of Germany by virtue of its right to free self-determination.

    This implied there was only one Germany, in area and population greater than just Western Germany.

    Also, German public broadcast used the upper left map for weather reporting up until the 70s, when they switched to the one on the top right without any borders. After the reunification, the bottom one was used:

    Additionally, reunified Germany put numerous GDR leaders and a few soldiers on trial for murdering those trying to flee the GDR. However, the courts had to argue with the GDR’s constitution - which fortunately for the courts was quite the self-contradictory document.

      • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        You’re right about the first part, I just remembered the Neue Ostpolitik marking a significant change.

        As to the constitution: While the preamble isn’t its own article, it’s just as much a part of the constitution as every other part.

        Here’s what the Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Constitutional Court) ruled:

        The German Reich continues to exist and still has legal capacity, but is not itself capable of acting as an overall state due to a lack of organization, in particular due to a lack of institutionalized bodies.[…]

        The German Democratic Republic belongs to Germany and cannot be regarded as a foreign country in relation to the Federal Republic of Germany.

        No constitutional body of the Federal Republic of Germany may abandon the restoration of state unity as a political goal; all constitutional bodies are obliged to work towards the achievement of this goal in their policies - this includes the demand to keep the claim to reunification alive internally and to persistently defend it externally - and to refrain from doing anything that would thwart reunification.

        Untrustworthy, but not wrong source for the quotes

        And while German public broadcast isn’t controlled by the government, it is a good indicator for the political beliefs of the general population and the government.

        The situation cannot be appropriately compared to the PRC and ROC, as there are significant differences. What can be compared is that the FRG never recognized the GDR as a state legitimated by international law. Just like the One-China-policy, the FRG had a One-Germany policy in its constitution.