Just using enough explosives to topple buildings, not enough for a fully controlled demolition, where the entire building falls on itself.
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China is taking exception to parallels being drawn with the effort needed for Russia to fail in Ukraine to discourage China from invading Taiwan.
China points out that Taiwan is part of China territory now and it will rightfully resume control there in the future. It would not be an invasion.
Invasion
an unwelcome intrusion into a region with the intention to take control
(it still bugs me how the Chinese refer to the liberation of Tibet, so am trying to define invasion to cover the situation in Taiwan.)
China - Taiwan have NOT invited you so you most definitely remain unwelcomed!
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The difficulty at the international level is that Taiwan does not have UN recognised Statehood status.
It can be a member of a lot of international organisations, as Chinese Taipei, on much the same basis as Hong Kong - territories or regions with autonomy over e.g. trade and economic matters , such as in the WTO. It can join treaties where it has competence to observe its obligations l
However Taiwan has no status in the UN institutions . China consistently blocks attempts for it to be given observer status - when the IOC has such status.
So, the difference is that Ukraine has UN Statehood status and its borders are legally UN recognised.
But that is just another example of the toothlessness of the UN…and a whole lot of it’s member nations.
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What are those other examples?
Have you been following the role of the UN in the Ukraine War and in particular its specialised agencies, as well as in Syria, in the grain corridor getting food to people starving in the Horn of Africa, in the refugee camps in Pakistan, in the Pakistan floods, the Palestine refugees, the Turkey and Syrian earthquakes?
Just some recent examples
Fifty years ago Taiwan was recognized in the UN as China, while the mainland was not recognized at all. Nixon changed all that.
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Cool
Australia follows the US line of strategic ambiguity on one China, while managing the complexities of China and Taiwan throwing incentives at the Pacific Islands to recognise one over the other.
In the past, citizenship or other visas were a revenue earner for some Islands.
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After China took Taiwan’s place in the UN, Taiwan applied for accession to the GATT multilateral trade agreement. As a regional entity with autonomy in trade and economic governing, it was legally eligible to accede under GATT rules.
However, the message was conveyed to forget about it from the big (and smaller ) players in GATT.
The message was that Taiwan accession would need to be at the same time as China’s membership. Chinese membership was ruled out because its then 100% State Trading system was incompatible with GATT.
About twenty or so years later, following Chinese economic reforms, protracted negotiations for China’s accession( including stringent conditions applying to China and no other GATT member), China and Chinese Taipei joined the GATT successor, the WTO, on the same date.
Sometimes the law can only be applied when the political stars align
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[杨涵 Han Yang on Twitter: "My column in the Australian: it’s time for the West to reciprocate in the information war; we should block Chinese state media unless Chinese lifts its own blocking and censoring of western media by the Great Fire Wall
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I see the head of the CIA has just blamed the Covid pandemic on a lab in Wuhan. No doubt the Chinese govt. will be in denial.
Just watching the BBC and they are saying it was the FBI saying it leaked from the lab…
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But, but, but China is such a peace loving country
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West Taiwan does not get mentioned in the Joint Quad statement of 3 March in Delhi.
I’m wracking my brain trying to work out from paragraphs 8 and 9 which countries they might be worried about in the Indo Pacific.
The joint statement is available on our Foreign Minister’s site.
China banned women from modelling lingerie — so men are filling in | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site
Male models are supporting China’s livestream lingerie industry — by wearing bras.
Chinese livestream fashion companies are swapping out female lingerie models for male models because China has banned women from modelling undergarments online, the New York Post reported.
Companies that feature women in scantily clad looks have a history of being shut down for violating China’s law against spreading obscene material online and companies don’t want to lose out on potential revenue.
Several companies’ livestream videos feature men wearing an assortment of looks including push-up bras, tight-fitting corsets and lace-trimmed nightgowns.
“Personally, we don’t really have a choice. The designs can’t be modelled by our female colleagues, so we will use our male colleagues to model it,” Mr. Xu, the owner of a livestream business told Jiupai News.
China’s livestream shopping scene is estimated to be worth more than $700 billion in 2023, according to Statista.
According to McKinsey, the industry contributes 10% of the country’s e-commerce revenue.
Chinese livestream fashion companies are swapping out female lingerie models for male models because China has banned women from modelling undergarments online.
Last December, Xu’s company revealed a male model adorned in a sexy silky robe.
The video caption read: “The light and luxurious boudoir of the wife and adults,” was posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
The video got more than 2,000 likes and a flood of commenters shared their opinion on the decision.
One commenter said they wanted the model to strip off more than the robe, “Why don’t you finish taking off,” while another supportive person wrote, “the guy wears it better than the girl”.
Another argued the companies’ new loophole takes opportunities away from women.
“If it’s a female model, the live stream would be banned every other minute, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before, this is still depriving a group of women of their job opportunities,” they said.
Companies that feature women in scantily clad looks have a history of being shut down for violating China’s law against spreading obscene material.
Xu doesn’t understand the fuss about the male models allegedly taking female jobs.
“Many directors of these live streams are women, are they also stealing men’s jobs?” Xu told Jiupai News.
It’s unknown how long the loophole will continue to work as China is also cracking down on “effeminate” depictions of men in the media.
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It used to be accepted that the Bretton Woods Agreements were constructed with the purpose to stop trade and economic wars escalating into political/military wars.
China may be turning it on its head in regard to the relationship between high and low diplomacy.
The US and others are seeking to wedge China.
China wants more power and influence in international politics - a multipolar approach in which it courts Russia and the global South. To that end it must offer sweeteners, not condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, providing economic assistance, keeping bilateral trade sanctions free and indirectly supplying Russia with components that assist Russia militarily.
China can’t court India in this respect as it has its own border tensions and because Pakistan is in China’s sphere. India is an Indo Pacific Quad member.
China is going all out to prevent its political agenda from affecting its trade and economic interests.
The earlier Xi Putin no limits declaration is being modified.
The US and others have made it clear that any Chinese direct military aid to Russia is a red line, there would be direct trade and economic sanctions on China.