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swisscriss t1_ja7a9zw wrote

This may sound ignorant but could someone tell me the difference? When they talk it sounds almost like they are speaking the same language

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tim36272 t1_ja7c5z2 wrote

Read as: China is unsure if it can successfully invade Taiwan.

Similar to how Russia thought the Ukraine invasion would be easy, but here we are a year later.

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swisscriss t1_ja7edeg wrote

Again more of the same, you put a Russian next to a Ukrainian and I'm sorry but you'd have to tell me who is who

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Freethecrafts t1_ja7jw5q wrote

Excellent, then you wouldn’t mind that Taiwan is the best China and takes over as the legitimate government of all of it. Problem solved. Same language, Taiwan wins.

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tim36272 t1_ja7f1fd wrote

Oh, you're asking what the difference is between China and Taiwan?

I'm sure others can provide a more thorough history, but in summary:

Yes the Taiwanese people are linguistically, culturally, and politically similar to the Chinese. The difference between them is largely geopolitical and ideological.

Similarly the people of Oregon and Washington in the US are very similar and it would be hard for an outsider to distinguish between the two.

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bsoto87 t1_ja7i37a wrote

Well there are indigenous Taiwanese, but 97% of the population is Han chinese

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cowvin t1_jaa8nxl wrote

Sure, there are similarities between many groups of people in terms of appearance, culture, language, etc. However, here are some interesting facts about Taiwan:

Taiwan has its own language, Taiwanese, that is slowly being pushed out by Chinese. Additionally, Taiwanese people who read and write Chinese use traditional Chinese characters rather than the simplified Chinese characters (introduced by the Communists).

Taiwan is the global leader in manufacturing computer chips because their manufacturing processes are years ahead of anyone else (for more info, look up TSMC).

Taiwan is a very modern democracy and they deserve to be recognized as an independent country.

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Skarr87 t1_ja7thcl wrote

Taiwan’s real name is “Republic of China” and China’s real name is “People’s Republic of China”. Before the Chinese Communist Revolution they were all part of one nation. Taiwan managed to not go communist and maintains that they are the real China. Communist China maintains Taiwan is part of China and won’t do business with anyone who calls Taiwan “Republic of China” and won’t recognize their sovereignty. It’s sort of (but not really) like North and South Korea.

This is a two minute explanation, the full history and intricacies are far more interesting and subtle.

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Velociraptor2018 t1_ja8ptak wrote

China fought a civil war before and after WW2 (only had a truce to deal with the Japanese) and the Communist side won. The Republic of China fled to Taiwan and the U.S. navy kept the People’s Republic of China from invading. The PRC sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and Taiwan see themselves as the legitimate government of China, although Taiwan has sort of formed their own identity and not just kinda wants to be left alone.

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