• queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Maybe it would look more like a blockade.

    How come it’s an act of war if China blockades Taiwan, but it’s not an act of war when America does the same thing to countries it sanctions?

    • WhatTrees@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      By definition, a blockade is an act of war, regardless of who does it. I’m not sure why you’d think I wouldn’t call the US blockading some country and act of war (although I have a guess), just as much as I’d call Israel blockading Palestine as an act of war.

      The reason other countries don’t respond to a US blockade with all-out war is because we get other countries to agree to the blockade first and then do it as a block, which means the blockaded country would have to be prepared to fight the US plus its allies. Given the relative size of the countries’ militaries involved, the blockaded ones usually decide not to fight.

      Agreeing with the US’s decision to support Taiwan against China is not the same as support for all US military decisions, or even most of them.