Let me explain the meaning of Tai-Hao...

[Techno Trousers]

Since we have a great international community here, I'd like to ask a question. I'm in the U.S., and I have to be honest that I didn't understand the One China policy until Trump took his I'll-advised phone call from the president of Taiwan, and I did some research.

If the Trump administration opens official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, what kind of response can we expect from the mainland? From what I've read, it would mean a serious loss of face for Beijing, but I don't know just how serious. Are we talking a cold war between the U.S. and the mainland? Is it possible they might even skirmish with Taiwan, or get into a full war? I feel like our president-elect is really playing with fire.

[seebart]

Since we have a great international community here, I'd like to ask a question. I'm in the U.S., and I have to be honest that I didn't understand the One China policy until Trump took his I'll-advised phone call from the president of Taiwan, and I did some research.

If the Trump administration opens official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, what kind of response can we expect from the mainland? From what I've read, it would mean a serious loss of face for Beijing, but I don't know just how serious. Are we talking a cold war between the U.S. and the mainland? Is it possible they might even skirmish with Taiwan, or get into a full war? I feel like our president-elect is really playing with fire.

From what I understand this is a BIG deal for China and obviously Taiwan. I also have no idea how extreme the reaction might be but why even provoke like that? China is no light weight on a global scale. I wonder how much of this whole situation Mr.Trump actually understands. This is not something I would "gamble" on.

[Techno Trousers]

If you look at Trump's Twitter feed, he mentioned China stealing one of our Navy research drones in international waters--"an unprecedented act." Then a few hours later he said we shouldn't ask for it back--let them keep it. I have no idea what he's doing. It's like he just blurts out whatever pops into his mind and doesn't think about the consequences of his actions. Very scary stuff in a world leader.

Well, I'd better not go too far down the political rabbit hole here.

[seebart]

That whole tweet about the drone was pointless, the Chinese are not just going to return that drone like a lost umbrella. You can go as far down the political rabbit hole as you like IMO, call it offtopicthority.

[Menuhin]

Since we have a great international community here, I'd like to ask a question. I'm in the U.S., and I have to be honest that I didn't understand the One China policy until Trump took his I'll-advised phone call from the president of Taiwan, and I did some research.

If the Trump administration opens official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, what kind of response can we expect from the mainland? From what I've read, it would mean a serious loss of face for Beijing, but I don't know just how serious. Are we talking a cold war between the U.S. and the mainland? Is it possible they might even skirmish with Taiwan, or get into a full war? I feel like our president-elect is really playing with fire.

I misread it as "... I didn't understand the One Child policy ..."

For mainland China, the implication of complying to "One China policy" at a diplomatic level means, "we acknowledge that is a civil war stalemate, and your right to internally resolve the situation"; non-complying implies any potential conflict is at an international level and a third country can readily jump in. Let's say NYC or California want to be independent and other countries diplomatically treat them as separate countries, would there not be another embargo or sanction against those assisting countries later on?

There have been strategic documents that propose Taiwan should forever remain an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the area, i.e. a location for military bases. All navy are defensive until one acquires the blue-water navy, so far only the UK (in the past also Japan) and the US now has real blue-water navy capability. And the central piece to offensive and capturing capability is the aircraft carriers big enough to move thousands of hi-tech troops at a time.
[Imagine China or Russia (why an ally in WWII turned enemy by self-administered propaganda?) or Iran turns Cuba into an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" having much exercises and monitoring activities. Does it sound crazy? But it's been happening the other way round.]

I haven't followed so much the election. Is Clinton so peaceful that she drew a line between her private jet and the military industrial complex? I read only a little the 3rd and the 4th candidates, such as Dr. Jill Stein who never got any chance to appear on TV during her campaign.

[Techno Trousers]

Clinton would have continued in the war hawk tradition of most of our recent modern presidents, as far as intervention in the Middle East and sabre rattling with Russia. But I also think she would have had a coherent and consistent foreign policy, in general.

[fohat]

I feel like our president-elect is really playing with fire.

I wonder how much of this whole situation Mr.Trump actually understands.

In the past, he has always gotten his way by being the supreme ruthless bully.

My fear is that now his minions will encourage him to continue behaving that way rather than restraining him.

[Menuhin]

... continued in the war hawk tradition of most of our recent modern presidents ...

I hope you can see that is not a necessary 'tradition', although there have to be changes made with great effort before there can be world peace. The modern presidents continued to serve the elites in the structure through military actions: 1, as a way to revive and support the economy as the only strategy they could think of after the Great Depression - to have wars one need enemies, so various old and new names of enemies to fight against, communism, the Vietnam war, Korean war, ..., the latest such as ISIS; 2, to continue domination in the world chessboard so as to determine the rules for the advantages of these elites, especially about currency, energy, and trade, without domination the debt clock is clicking, nobody wants to continue to lend but nobody at this current stage can avoid a gigantic structure change overnight or even collapse.

[Techno Trousers]

Oh, I didn't mean "tradition" in a good sense. In some ways, I'm not even on the American political spectrum. I would like to withdraw all troops and close all bases in the Middle East (in fact, most military bases on foreign soil around the world). We're still living in this "us versus them" mentality that's not appropriate for the 21st century. I'd then like us to put the military savings into renewable energy, especially nuclear fusion research. We can still maintain a military strong enough to defend ourselves, but we should be using diplomacy and raising everyone's standard of living in order to achieve stability around the world.

[Muirium]

That would be nice.

Trouble is: the world has people with much to lose, or certainly much they fear they'll lose. And so vested interests maintain baffling status quos like the two Chinas, two Koreas, and in the US: the electoral college and wild gerrymandering.

Greed and fear are all too real. They are what crater the road to progress. Expect them to run riot the next few years ahead at least. They have a momentum of their own, that only deep, personal, unbearable suffering has ever stopped before.


The French term you guys are looking for is nouveau riche.

And the Russian political term for Trump is полезные дураки or a useful idiot. Why else do you think Putin was such a keen backer? Hillary was nothing for him to worry about—quite indistinguishable from Obama on the foreign stage, and Putin's had an easy time the last 8 years. But Trump is that rare gift your opponent sometimes offers to you, like a loaded gun pointed into his own temple on a lark.

[y11971alex]

Until 2005, the ROC government claimed the entire mainland and Mongolia as its de jure territory. I was educated that the ROC is the second largest country in the world, at 11,420,000 square km, only behind the USSR. Notice, my textbook used USSR until 2005!

Of course, the government can only effectively administer Formosa, which is 0.4% of that de jure territory

[Muirium]

Speaking of claims, this is where the fun* will be:



*Pleasure not guaranteed. Presidents may bring mortal danger closer than it appears. No warranty implied.

[fohat]

And the Russian political term for Trump is полезные дураки or a useful idiot. Why else do you think Putin was such a keen backer? Hillary was nothing for him to worry about—quite indistinguishable from Obama on the foreign stage, and Putin's had an easy time the last 8 years. But Trump is that rare gift your opponent sometimes offers to you, like a loaded gun pointed into his own temple on a lark.

Thanks for this information! Can I quote you on that?

I would be slightly comforted to know that Putin was merely using Trump opportunistically rather than having groomed and blackmailed him on the basis of his huge shady Russian debt.

Although I do think that Putin was more than a little irritated that the world community is grudging him the Crimea.
And that Clinton, being a more angry and mean-spirited person than Obama, would have probably given him more trouble.

[Findecanor]

What does "Ducky" mean?

BTW, in Tudor-era England, "ducky" was slang for a woman's breast. So ... "typing on boobs"?
Today in England, "to trump" is slang for farting loudly, with the word's origin being "trumpet".

[Muirium]

Lots of things are secretly funny to we speakers of ye olde Englische. Especially brand names that are a slip of the tongue away from masturbation, without a tinge of self consciousness!


@Fohat:
I'm always on the record. This is literally a public forum after all!

My take on Hillary is she's conservative with a small c. An instinctive dislike of risks is one of her basic characteristics. Bill was much ballsier than her, in his day. As was Obama to oppose the Iraq facepalm in 2003 and to dare run against her in 2008. Sadly, Obama's daring evaporated once he was in office. The battle to pass Obamacare seemed to sap it right out of him. He's been disappointing through inaction ever since.

So I don't think Hillary would have kicked up anything real with Putin. Not her style. I don't think she'd have been a great president either, but at least the loonies wouldn't be running the White House.

[fohat]

names that are a slip of the tongue away from masturbation, without a tinge of self consciousness!

One of my favorite science fiction series, when I was a teenager, was written by Jack Vance. But sales in England were dismal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servants_of_the_Wankh

[Muirium]

Sounds like a promising Japanese porno title…

[Chyros]

names that are a slip of the tongue away from masturbation, without a tinge of self consciousness!

One of my favorite science fiction series, when I was a teenager, was written by Jack Vance. But sales in England were dismal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servants_of_the_Wankh

Americans don't use the word "wank"? D:

[seebart]

Great to see how this thread is going.

1g7h7l.jpg (42.34 KiB) Viewed 6496 times

[y11971alex]

Sounds like a promising Japanese porno title…

μ, use your modly powers to move us into off-topic

[Menuhin]

names that are a slip of the tongue away from masturbation, without a tinge of self consciousness!

One of my favorite science fiction series, when I was a teenager, was written by Jack Vance. But sales in England were dismal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servants_of_the_Wankh

Bookmarked for special reading sessions in the future.
It can be the name of a new keyset in IC indeed, after the "Deep Space" set.

[Mr.Nobody]

Until 2005, the ROC government claimed the entire mainland and Mongolia as its de jure territory. I was educated that the ROC is the second largest country in the world, at 11,420,000 square km, only behind the USSR. Notice, my textbook used USSR until 2005!

Of course, the government can only effectively administer Formosa, which is 0.4% of that de jure territory

I don't know what textbook you refer to, I was born in 1980, I was taught China is the third largest country, and has a territory of 9,600,000 square KM . We know how Mongolia was chopped off from our map but Goverment never claims Mongolia is still part of China.

[y11971alex]

I'm from the other China obviously.

[seebart]

Sounds like a promising Japanese porno title…

μ, use your modly powers to move us into off-topic

Not happening.

I'm from the other China obviously.

Spoiler:

Download.jpg (108.21 KiB) Viewed 6430 times

[terrycherry]

太豪 is an adjective word, describe someone is very rich / kindly to paid for something/ very proud himself
It's just a company name. Do not have the decent meaning, just care about the company history and the switches.

[Menuhin]

太豪 is an adjective word, describe someone is very rich / kindly to paid for something/ very proud himself
It's just a company name. Do not have the decent meaning, just care about the company history and the switches.

I say 豪 is a manner not bothered about details and etiquette, e.g. unrestrained.
However, I can see why 豪 is usually interpreted as 'rich' and as just an adjective by modern native speakers who don't go further to look at the word because after all its most prominent usage is in phrases such as 豪華 (luxurious), 富豪 (a rich and powerful person - but 豪 here is already a noun) and perhaps even 豪乳 (rich/big breasts).
However, there are some other common usage in which 豪 has more of its original meanings, such as 大文豪 in which 豪 means someone with extraordinary talent or ability.

The more authoritative modern dictionaries for Chinese are:
《 辭源 》、 《 辭海 》、《漢字大字典》 or even 《 康熙字典 》 although 200+ years older.
The earliest dictionary and a quite authoritative one for older Chinese is 《說文解字》 written in the first millennium and it is the first dictionary to organize words according to its roots (in a traditional dictionary of the Chinese language, one looks up a word not by its sound but by its root as seen in its form, such as 煤(coal) has the root of 火(fire)).

I found no online version of these more authoritative dictionaries, but there are some other good references:
http://www.zdic.net/z/24/js/8C6A.htm (from mainland China, with English)
http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/ ... 0000004804 (created and maintained by Taiwan RC National Academy for Educational Research)
http://cdict.info/query/%E8%B1%AA (another Taiwan website, with English)
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/cgi-bin ... ery=%BB%A8 (a website by Chinese University Hong Kong with English)

Disclaimer: I am not related to Tai-Hao though I seem to be defending its name being not too vulgar.
Here's a few modern practical way to use 太豪 to sound a bit vulgar:
1. when a friend points to you over the corner a nice woman with a pair of unreasonably huge breasts,
you can reply "oh... 太豪 (Tai-Hao)!!!"
2. when someone buys a round for everyone in a pub,
you can say "He/She/You...太豪 (Tai-Hao)!!!"

[y11971alex]

Since we have a great international community here, I'd like to ask a question. I'm in the U.S., and I have to be honest that I didn't understand the One China policy until Trump took his I'll-advised phone call from the president of Taiwan, and I did some research.

The one-China policy isn't really a matter of principle. It's just there to prevent other parts of China from seeking political autonomy.

If the Trump administration opens official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, what kind of response can we expect from the mainland? From what I've read, it would mean a serious loss of face for Beijing, but I don't know just how serious. Are we talking a cold war between the U.S. and the mainland? Is it possible they might even skirmish with Taiwan, or get into a full war? I feel like our president-elect is really playing with fire.

Exceedingly unlikely between the USA and PRC; they understand the scale of destruction that a nuclear war would bring. Between the PRC and ROC, still unlikely, but more probable. However, note that the USA had formal relations with what is today known as Taiwan, before 1971. Between 1949 and 1971, the PRC didn't do a thing to the USA for not maintaining relationships with it. Historically, the government that now governs Taiwan governed the mainland, so it has a claim to something that the PRC hasn't.

[Menuhin]

...Exceedingly unlikely between the USA and PRC; they understand the scale of destruction that a nuclear war would bring... ...Between the PRC and ROC, still unlikely, but more probable...
...However, note that the USA had formal relations with what is today known as Taiwan, before 1971. Between 1949 and 1971, the PRC didn't do a thing to the USA for not maintaining relationships with it. Historically, the government that now governs Taiwan governed the mainland, so it has a claim to something that the PRC hasn't...

- To be honest, in case of US invasion, mainland China with its super weak and immature Navy cannot do much yet in front the invincible US military forces, especially its US Navy and aircraft carriers pack - China is 20-50+ years behind in its Navy. Mainland China can only threaten to use its 1990s game-changing DF inter-continental nuclear-warhead capable missiles - before that China couldn't make any statement that the US might take it serious.
For mainland China's own local defend, there's the world's first anti-aircraft carrier defend system but it seems that the anti-anti-aircraft carrier system installed by the US in South Korea recently has rendered such a new defend system less useful.
Nuclear-war is unlikely, but what war will be started to shuffle the cards and lessen the debts is still a big unknown.

- Majority of PRC and RC people do not want any conflict. Though it seems to me that PRC people are "willing to make the move" but that is because they feel relatively remote and safe, and don't know the extend any conflict can do to themselves.

- I also thought like that RC (now Taiwan government) once ruled the whole mainland China before its fleet to Taiwan. But after some careful reading, what I found is that the US picked RC as their winning bet during that chaotic era, but RC ended up losing and fled to Taiwan. RC had never totally ruled the whole area and had never cleared up all the chaos created by the many warlords that ruled quite many smaller areas during that time, before the WWII Japanese invasion and then before another bigger scale civil war.
RC was undecided which sides to choose before WWII, sent a few important generals to be trained in Germany. They were all treated really well in Germany and they came back becoming very capable militants. However, as Germany and Japan became allies, from almost the beginning of WWII, RC quickly switched to join the US front.

Spoiler:

[Wodan]

What the actual fuck happened to this discussion?

[webwit]

^ Whatever you do, don't mention Tank Man.

What about an EU style Lebensraum extension peace plan, if Taiwan joins the EU and we give them billions of euro, everything will end well.