This is one of the most repugnant and misinformed posts I've seen on HN in a long time.
Taipei isn't a country. It's the capital city of Taiwan, which has had de facto independence for over 60 years but is unrecognized by the UN as a country due to the fact that China carries a veto and will cut relations with any country that does recognize Taiwan.
Taiwan has never been part of the PRC (which is the country commonly referred to as "China"). Taiwan has a separate currency, democratic governance, a separate military and a separate national identity for virtually the entire populace except for a few graying nationalist soldiers. Its "standards" as you put it are much closer to Japanese or Korean standards than they are to Chinese ones.
Furthermore, even going back before WWII, Taiwan was a Japanese colony, not Chinese. You have to go all the way back to the Qing Dynasty before Taiwan was controlled by China. Using that kind of reasoning, most of Eastern Europe would belong to the Austrian Monarchy.
Note: I've spent over 7 years living in Taiwan and also 2 years in Beijing.
Yes you're right, I got terribly mixed up here. My apologies. That got me interested in the regions history (of which, as I just demonstrated, I have no clue) though, I'll read into it a little when I've got some spare time.
Taipei isn't a country. It's the capital city of Taiwan, which has had de facto independence for over 60 years but is unrecognized by the UN as a country due to the fact that China carries a veto and will cut relations with any country that does recognize Taiwan.
Taiwan has never been part of the PRC (which is the country commonly referred to as "China"). Taiwan has a separate currency, democratic governance, a separate military and a separate national identity for virtually the entire populace except for a few graying nationalist soldiers. Its "standards" as you put it are much closer to Japanese or Korean standards than they are to Chinese ones.
Furthermore, even going back before WWII, Taiwan was a Japanese colony, not Chinese. You have to go all the way back to the Qing Dynasty before Taiwan was controlled by China. Using that kind of reasoning, most of Eastern Europe would belong to the Austrian Monarchy.
Note: I've spent over 7 years living in Taiwan and also 2 years in Beijing.