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Comment by paranoidrobot | Hacker News Reader

The question wasn't "Does Taiwan exist" it was about letting Taiwan join the WHO. The WHO admitting Taiwan as a member is the same as them coming out and stating that Taiwan is not part of China.

As for whether they're part of China - that's also a political thing. If you don't believe that, then ask why the US doesn't formally recognise Taiwan as an independent country. Oh, right, because the US Government decided that it was better to keep having access to Chinese markets. The US isn't unique here, most countries don't formally recognise Taiwan either, because it's beneficial for them not to.

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Hong Kong is in the WHO as Hong Kong. Are you saying we aren't part of China?

They're in the WHO as "Hong Kong SAR (China)" and only attended "under its own name" from 1989-1996.

https://www.who.int/hongkongchina/about-us

OK, I misunderstood one thing. The question wasn't about Taiwan's response to Covid (which WHO had better be able to answer, politics or no politics), it was about Taiwan joining WHO. That is a political question.

But:

> As for whether they're part of China - that's also a political thing.

Yes and no. No, they are not currently part of China. You have two separate governments, neither of which is subordinate to the other. Therefore neither one is part of the other. That's the de facto reality. It's not ambiguous, it's not subjective, and it's not open to interpretation.

But yes, it's political in that both sides claim a de jure unity - they just disagree about who's in charge of it. And it's political for everybody else, because they can't side with Taiwan without upsetting China, and they aren't willing to upset China.

But for China to try to pretend that the de facto situation is other than what it is... hey, we aren't blind, China. We know what the reality of the current situation is, no matter how much they try to pretend that it's something else.

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