#MANILA, #Philippines – Every 12th of July, the Philippines – and its allies and friends – commemorate the 2016 arbitral award, a landmark ruling that said #China’s sweeping #9DashLine claim had no basis in #InternationalLaw. #WestPHSea

WATCH: What the 2016 arbitral ruling says and doesn’t say about the #WestPhilippineSea
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/podcasts-videos/video-summary-2016-arbitral-ruling-west-sea/

☝️ The *victims* of the regime might be forgiven (option not available inside the empire) if they fail to appreciate the scattered unofficial nostalgia for a leading supporting cadre who served as the Party's 'premier' for a decade while, well, 'stuff' kept happening to them.

Maybe, just maybe comrade Li would have been less extreme as the supreme leader, but isn't that entire point moot since all he really ended up *doing* was rubberstamping the #XiJinping's policies we've all come to love and appreciate?

The #PRC/#CCP stopped "biding time" a decade ago and comrade Li was right in the middle of it as supreme leader's number 2.

#LiKeqiang #hagiography #China #dictatorship #Hongkong #Tibet #EastTurkistan #Uighurs #SouthMongolia #SCS #9dashline #militaryexpansionism #authaxis
@LetaHong @liyuan6

☝️ Yet equally puzzling are ROC/KMT's sovereignty claims over the vast non-Chinese imperial land territories the ROC/KMT had never even controlled, e.g. the Tibetan Plateau which even the preceding Chinese empires had never de-facto ruled (except on self-written paper).

I can think of a way to bury these imperial-era anachronisms: Just renouncing the imperial-era claims as anachronisms.

「Perhaps the most straightforward reason is the relative inattention of an electorate already grappling with numerous pressing issues, including the challenge of preserving autonomy in the face of PRC pressure.

Another possible explanation is that Taipei recognises that taking a clear stance and revealing any documentary evidence for its claims could upset Taiwan’s relationship with its neighbours. There might be evidence to suggest that the ROC did not receive any recognition for its claims from previous governments of the current claimant states, such as British, French, American or even Dutch colonial administrations. This lack of recognition could weaken the positions of other claimants and set them against a Taiwan that is already in a diplomatically marginalised and precarious position.

An alternative scenario is that more clarity from Taiwan could undermine the PRC’s position and invite additional pressure from Beijing, something Taipei would rather not deal with at a time of already heightened tensions.

A further possibility is that Taipei may have limited legal evidence to support its claims. Admitting such a reality could expose any Taiwanese administration in office to domestic criticism, with accusations of being weak on sovereignty claims. This further complicates a situation where Taiwan’s status already faces serious challenges from a powerful PRC. Any political party in office in Taipei would likely want to avoid further domestic disputes. 」

#Taiwan #9DashLine #SouthChinaSea
@inchg

⬆️ Estonian PM Kaja Kallas interviewed in Singapore:

“Russia are the last imperial colonialistic power there is in the world... ”

🤔

Mere momentary myopia, deliberate appeasement (of #russia's dominant 'brother'), or is PM Kallas genuinely unaware...??

All Estonians should not only know but have the deepest solidarity possible for the peoples still facing eradication.

#Estonia #CCP #china #Tibet #EastTurkestan #Mongolia #Taiwan #Hongkong #Bhutan #India #9dashline
@kajakallas

Could you do a blurb on your feelings about "pro-China" comments too?

Complete with a "fun fact"?

Maybe even one about the #CCP, or is that *too* complicated?

Some people recognize the #chinese #dictatorship to be an entity separate from its disenfranchised subjects.

#china #imperialism #colonialism #Tibet #Hongkong #Mongolia #Uighurs #9dashline
@liztai