Hey, Taiwan history buffs, April 17 is the anniversary of what important document in Taiwan history?
Several years ago I put a note in Google Calendar to remind myself that this month is the 10th anniversary of one of most vapidly pro-KMT, endlessly clueless articles ever published on Taiwan, Robert Ross’ immortal Taiwan’s Fading Independence Movement. It was published in Foreign Affairs, which would publish a hamster writing on international relations in Urdu, provided it was sufficiently anti-Taiwan. Reflect for a moment on the fearsome ignorance of its first two sentences.
Political developments in Taiwan over the past year have effectively ended the independence movement there. What had been a major source of regional instability — and the most likely source of a great-power war anywhere in the world — has become increasingly irrelevant.
My old post on it is still as relevant as ever. I just thought I’d post on this as I contemplate a populace which, in the under-45 demographic, is post-independence: it has already embraced independence and has moved on to other things.
So Robert Ross, how is that fading independence movement hitting ya?
Yeah, I thought so.