US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken directly with the president of Taiwan - breaking with US policy set in 1979 when formal relations were cut. Washington cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979, expressing its support for Beijing's "One China" policy.

Hm... from what I read, Reddit overall is extremely supportive of Taiwan as a country. But there are two sides of the story here.

The reason Taiwan has a different government is because during the civil war, the KMT was defeated by the communist party, and fled to the island of Taiwan. The old people who were originally from the mainland there are all hoping to one day reunite with China as the "true" KMT government, instead of the communist government. Thus they do not actually want to separate. It is mainly the younger generation that has not lived in the mainland who feel like Taiwan is a separate country and want to divide.

I have been ambivalent about this issue, and unsure if Taiwan should be considered separate or not. But it feels similar to the situation we have in Canada right now, where Quebec wants to separate.

I can't help but feel the reason Reddit is so strongly for Taiwan separation is because of Western propaganda. Taiwan wasn't a country that China conquered, it was originally part of a Chinese province. I can see a stronger argument for Tibet separating, but not really Taiwan. It benefits the USA for China to weaken as a power, and thus this seems to be the reason the West is so in favor of China losing a lot of its territories.

/r/worldnews Thread Link - bbc.com