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Comment by maxkwallace | Hacker News Reader

Taiwan is not "China" for reasonable and informed definitions of China. Independent of that, to the best of my understanding:

(1) The talent pools in Taiwan and China are different

(2) The markets in Taiwan and China are very different

Right now the Chinese market is more important than the Chinese talent pool, but both are important. Basing an accelerator in Taiwan would be good for Taiwan, but it would not meaningfully engage with the Chinese market or talent pool. It's too late in the game for that.

Even if YC's ultimately goal were political and humanitarian it would still be more effective to base the accelerator in China and use the additional leverage gained from being in China to better pursue those goals.

Disclosure: I am an American currently living in Taiwan. (edits: grammar)

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The PRC says that Formosa (i.e Taiwan) is part of China. That's why I added the caveat (for some definition of China). There are political definitions, cultural definitions, linguistic/anthropological definitions. So, my statement still stands that Taiwan is a kind of China, depending on how you understand that word.

It's clear that you're speaking from a political perspective, but even that gets a bit grey.

Since you don't live in China, you should know that there are hundreds of different versions of China within China itself. You could live in Shanghai and never know the reality of the China that the people of Xinjiang experience. So I would say to your points that:

1) The markets all over China are very different. 2) The talent pools all over China are very different.

If YC wants to call it YC Shangjing, (because they're primarily targeting those two markets), that would be fair. But considering China just to be Shanghai and Beijing is a bit myopic, which is why I suggested Taiwan in the first place.

Disclosure: I am a Chinese-American currently living in Northwest China, which is VERY different than Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Linxia, Shenyang, etc. all of which I've visited.

> Taiwan is not "China" for reasonable and informed definitions of China.

Taiwan is literally the Republic of China. The leadership is descended from the same people who overcame the Japanese. Pretending the Communist Party has a monopoly on the word 'China' is uninformed and unreasonable.

Off topic, a better compromise would have been Hong Kong, inside the PRC with some degree of democracy, though less than originally promised in 1997.

You are not wrong that Taiwan is part of China according to official definition (from both PRC and Taiwanese gov).

However, "Taiwan is literally the Republic of China." is disingenuous considering that their government is not the one that sits in the United Nations.

Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China. How is that disingenuous? They're not at the UN because the PRC is bigger than them and has nukes.

When people refer to China, they are referring to mainland China which is about the same size as the continental US, and not a small island about the size of Vermont. They are two different things because Taiwan based businesses do not have the same access to mainland China vs businesses based on the mainland. China's domestic market is pretty much a closed one.

I don't want to get involved in politics. But I have to point out "Taiwan is literally the Republic of China." is 100% correct. The official name of Taiwan is Republic of China (ROC). On the cover of Taiwan passport, you can only see Republic of China. The interesting thing is the claimed territory of Republic of China includes the China mainland and Mongolia, not just Taiwan island. The official name of China mainland is People's Republic of China (PRC), literally same to Republic of China (ROC). It's too complex for western people to understand. Just refer them as China and Taiwan.

I am from China mainland, having friends and colleagues from Taiwan. Don't want to see wars happen between PRC and ROC.

We're in the realm of opinion, but my $0.02:

"China" is the name of a country. For historical reasons the "Republic of China" is one of the names of a different country, but having "China" in its name doesn't make it (a part of) China.

Most people call China "China" simply because China's current territory is closest to the China that existed before the Nationalist/Communist split. It's not a political statement. Two different countries needs two different names. Taiwan is for all intents and purposes a country but it can't declare itself one now because of military threat from China.

Yes, there are Taiwanese who want Taiwan to subjugate itself and become part of China. But all the young people I have talked to, excluding blindly patriotic Chinese, see Taiwan as Taiwan and China as China-- as two separate countries with their own economies, histories, cultures, and languages.

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