How come there's still a "one China" policy?
Chinese people all know "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and they all know that the Three Kingdoms divide China into three parts.
When asked about the Three Kingdoms, everyone knows that they are the Three Kingdoms of Wu, Wei, and Shu.
However, the Chinese also know that the three countries of Wu, Wei, and Shu are all China, and it was a time when China was divided. Wu, Wei, and Shu did not claim to be independent from China, and they all consider that are part of China and wanted to unify China.
Therefore, in Chinese political culture, there has never been the theory of independence and federation, only the theory of unity and division.
Which country are the Three Kingdoms?
The three countries are all China, and all belong to one China.
Independence and federation are concepts of European political culture, and they are modern concepts. It was at the end of the Thirty Years' War in Europe that the Westphalian system signed between countries in 1648 established the modern concept of sovereignty, and only then did independent sovereignty come into being. The nation-state.
1648 was the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
Before the Thirty Years' War, Europe was a duchy, and feudal princes were divided into separatist regimes. Each prince was either attached to the royal family or the church, and there was no concept of a sovereign state.
The famous quote in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is "there eventually be unification after a long time of division and there is inevitable split after a long time of unity".
In Chinese history, unification is the dominant trend and the norm.
Splitting is often a transition period between two dynasties and is a transient stage.
The period of unification is the period of peace, at least the period of internal peace, and there are wars to resist foreign invasion.
The period of the division was mostly war years.
There is a saying: I would rather be a dog in peaceful times than a person in war times.
It can be seen that peace is cherished, and that unity is what the people want.
The emperor's meritorious deeds lie in unifying China.
Liu Bei did not think Shu is an independent state separated from China, nor did he think that Wu and Wei were independent states separated from China. Cao Cao and Sun Quan saw themselves the same way as Liu Bei did. All of them thought the three kingdoms are all parts of China inseparable.
Unification is peace, and unification is an ideal, a morality, and a cherishable political philosophy in Chinese political culture.
Reunification leads to peace, and peace leads to the people living and working in peace and contentment and sharing peace.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms lasted more than 90 years from the Yellow Turban Uprising to the Jin Dynasty's destruction of Wu.
Since 1946, the split between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party has only been 76 years.
It has been 73 years since the separation of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in 1949.
It is a Chinese political and cultural tradition that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China.
In contrast to Europe, Europe has never been unified.
When did Germany become a country?
It was after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo that a German Federation was established, a loose federation of 39 princes.
The division and reunification of Germany is the division of East and West Germany after World War II and the reunification of East and West Germany after the Cold War.
The European Union is established in 1993 after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Not all European countries are members of the European Union, especially the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union. Moreover, many overseas territories of EU member states are not within the European Union.
The Euro was established in 1995, but not all EU countries have adopted the Euro currency.
There is also a Schengen Treaty outside the EU, which allows citizens of the Schengen Treaty countries to move and relocate freely between the Schengen countries, and some non-EU member states are also in the Schengen area.
Qin Shihuang unified China thousands of years ago, with unified currency, unified writing, and unified weights and measures.
All the unification tasks completed by Qin Shihuang are tasks that the EU is committed to completing, and they are all tasks that the EU has not completed.
The unification of the European Union has not been completed, and Qin Shihuang completed it thousands of years ago.
China's political civilization is two thousand years ahead of that of Europe.
Since Europe is not united, wars are more frequent than in China.
Two thousand years ago, the Qin and Han Dynasties were the period of the Roman Empire in Europe.
It can be seen that the level of civilization was about the same two thousand years ago, and the land in Europe was slightly larger than that in China.
Peace makes people live and work in peace and contentment, while war makes people miserable.
Therefore, China's population is twice as large as that of Europe.
Europe was the battlefield and birthplace of the two world wars.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Kosovo War and the Ukraine War also took place in Europe.
Since the founding of New China, it has been a time of peace, except for some border wars to defend against the enemy outside the country.
In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China had the political concepts of hegemony and good governance.
European political culture so far has only hegemony but no good governance.
China has risen, and the West has exclaimed that China is going to dominate the world.
China has repeatedly stated for decades that it does not seek hegemony.
China advocates a community with a shared future for mankind.
China advocates mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit.
China stands for non-conflict and non-confrontation.
However, no matter what China says or does, the West just doesn’t accept it, because so far there is only hegemony in Western political theory, and there is no good governance of the world in Western political theory.
Therefore, Europe would rather have its own economy damaged in order to contain China.
Canada would rather be bullied by the US in order to oppose China.
The United States violated the North American Free Trade Agreement and imposed tariffs on Canadian softwood and aluminum products. The United States imposed a 300% import tax on Bombardier jets, which bankrupted the Bombardier jet production line. Canada has no negotiating power in trade negotiations with the United States. Even if the United States bullies Canada's economy, Canada still wants to maintain the hegemony of the United States and jump on the chariot of the United States to encircle China.
Developed countries have controlled most of the earth's resources under the expansion of colonialism in the past 500 years. Developed countries have developed science and technology and advanced productivity. Yet they still practice imperialism through wars, regime changes, and color revolutions.
The standard of living in the West is already higher than that in developing countries, so why can't it develop Pareto optimally? Because there is no concept of good governance of the world in Western political culture.
Western politicians and scholars have no concept of good governance of the world, and the level of political civilization in the West is two thousand years behind that of China. Western politicians indulge in gaining interest through wars.
Unification is a Chinese political and cultural concept, an advanced political and cultural concept, and a political morality.
Reunification leads to peace, peace leads to economic development, economic development enables the people to live and work in peace and contentment, and human civilization flourishes.
The European Union is trying to unify itself, but it wants to support the US hegemony to create divisions elsewhere. This is not in line with the golden rule of doing to others what you would have them do to you. This is unjust and immoral.
Which country are the Three Kingdoms?
All three kingdoms belong to China, and both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China.
Unity is justice, peace, and progress. The unification of Taiwan with the mainland is justice, moral appeal, and sovereignty of China.