Taiwan, China and the language of conflict

Plus: Percy Pig's comeback, Britain's immune system and more [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an insular yet all-embracing summary of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Must-Reads - The art of [political shamelessness](. - Are the [Saudis]( really China’s friends? - Far away in the Pacific, an [inflation]( laboratory. - The new rules of [bite club](. Taiwan Is a Tangle in Any Language Will China invade Taiwan? It’s the question that won’t go away — and we’re going to hear a lot more about it as the offshore democracy heads for a presidential election on Jan. 13, 2024. A week ago, Joe Biden [blurted out]( that China was too economically distracted to launch an attack. Several of my colleagues, including James Stavridis, Niall Ferguson, and Hal Brands have [weighed in](on the likely [consequencesÂ](of an [assault](. We all suspect Russian President Vladimir Putin would love to see Beijing start some cross-strait action to divert attention (and supplies) from his enemies in Ukraine. Yesterday, Minxin Pei took [the US president’s side](. “Popular theories about how China, facing the prospect of prolonged stagnation, will be tempted to lash out may make intuitive sense. But they are based on thin empirical evidence and a misunderstanding of the strategic calculations of the Chinese Communist Party and its dominant leader, President Xi Jinping.” However, Minxin cautions that catastrophe could still happen. All it takes is an accident involving all the military activity in the area — including a so-called “island encirclement patrol” by China’s naval forces. A couple of months ago, Beijing launched its third aircraft carrier. I’d like to take a look at the name of that ship and tease out its symbolism in this geopolitical tangle. China’s latest aircraft carrier is the Fujian, named for the province across Taiwan. Photographer: VCG/Visual China Group The new boat is called the Fujian. That is also the name of the Chinese province across the strait from Taiwan. Beginning around 1600, Taiwan became home to Fujianese migrants whose language — Minnan — is still spoken by about 80% of the population to this day. Mutually intelligible variants are also used by large ethnic Chinese communities in the region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, who call it Hokkien. It’s the Chinese language I grew up with in Manila before being sent to school to learn Mandarin. A majority in Taiwan also speaks Mandarin — the use of which was propelled by the flood of refugees fleeing the communist takeover of the mainland in the late 1940s.[1](#footnote-1) Meanwhile, a little over 2% of the population descends from aboriginal tribes, and about a third of that small number speak 26 different “Formosan” languages[2](#footnote-2)— the only ones that can be strictly called “Taiwanese.” The others originate from the mainland. Language politics is thus fraught in a democracy that is trying to establish a distinct cultural identity from the authoritarian giant across the water. I like to joke that Taiwan is not really an integral part of China. It’s an integral part of Fujian. Strange that no one laughs. Seriously, here’s the rub: Xi Jinping probably fancies himself an expert on Taiwan because he was [governor of Fujian for a couple of years](. Every so often, he trots out economic incentives for residents of Taiwan [to do business and live in](Fujian. He probably believes that language affinities may yet be one avenue to integrate mainland China and so-called Island China. Who knows? That ship may have sailed. Once upon a time, there were 13 colonies that split from a mother island whose language they shared. Attention Shoppers: Marks & Spencer Is Back on Track Percy Pig sweets are a bit of an obsession in Britain. The porcine-faced gummies (and cakes and assorted sweets) make the news in the UK with every new variation (Vegan, yay! Mince pies, boo!). In any event, there has been much cheering about the turnaround at its exclusive purveyor (and originator) Marks & Spencer Group Plc. The grocer-and-retailer, which surprised investors with a profit upgrade last month, will return to the FTSE 100 next week after being ejected in 2019. The news is not so good for another storied retailer in the UK: the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership. It reported a pretax loss of £57.3 million ($68 million) in the six months to July 29. Andrea Felsted has [some advice]( for its boss: “Chair Sharon White should ditch distractions such as its venture into housing and expanding financial services. But she can go further. The first step is bolstering the management ranks.” She adds: “If the partnership can stabilize sales and profit, then it should have scope to be more innovative. John Lewis department stores are following M&S and adding new brands, but it should go more upmarket.” Might pigs help? Telltale Charts “With almost all Wall Street involved, someone in the room knew how to make Arm Holdings Plc’s initial public offering look like a textbook success … Owner SoftBank Group Corp. ended up pricing the British chip designer’s Nasdaq IPO at $51 per share. … Is it time to say “thank you” to the Japanese tech investor for reopening a moribund IPO market? Not so fast. … Around two-thirds of the constituents of the S&P 500 and Stoxx Europe 600 indexes are down from the beginning of last year. Fund managers can snap up stocks they’re familiar with at prices below their peak. They don’t need to take a risk on an IPO.” — Chris Hughes in “[SoftBank Has Either Reopened the IPO Market or Killed It](.” “Britain’s government wants to get more of the long-term sick back into work: It plans changes to how the system assesses people with health conditions and speaks encouragingly of the curative and life-enhancing virtues of employment. ... The deeper question here is why Britain is becoming a sicker society — a fact evidenced by a range of different measures. The reasons may be complex and multivariate, but systematic underfunding of the National Health Service over more than a decade cannot have helped. The pandemic arrived when the immune system of the NHS had already been weakened.” — Matthew Brooker in “[Sick Britain Can't Be Cured With Sticks](” Further Reading Capitalism is headed for a [shocking divorce](. — Adrian Wooldridge And China and Europe too … Maybe. — Lionel Laurent The [sweet but crude]( guide to inflation. — Javier Blas Kim Jong Un’s got a dangerous new [swagger](. — Karishma Vaswani Is that 600-page book on [Elon Musk]( too long? Read this. — Liam Denning Will this be the [last rate increase]( from the European Central Bank? — Marcus Ashworth Walk of the Town: The New Old Curiosity Shop Around the corner from the building that inspired Charles Dickens’ novel The Old Curiosity Shop is the Royal College of Surgeons of England.  Four months ago, the Hunterian Museum reopened after a six-year-long renovation. Built on the huge collection of anatomical specimens (human and otherwise) accumulated by the 18th-century Scottish surgeon John Hunter, the museum makes economical yet mesmerizing use of its relatively small footprint on the ground floor of the college. Hunter lived at a time when would-be medics had to source cadavers to study anatomy — and that required the cooperation of graverobbers. The collection goes beyond that macabre bit of history, however. Hunter also had a naturalist’s eye, and the sloths, armadillos, pangolins and other then-exotic creatures have assumed a chilling ivory beauty in their clear glass bottles. A fetal sloth, preserved by John Hunter between 1760 and 1793 Photograph: Copyright by Royal College of Surgeons of England There are also samples of our species under glass. The Hunterian has this counsel for visitors: “Please respect the human remains displayed and do not post close ups of them on social media.” Drawdown Tied up in knots? You’re not the only one. But thanks for sticking with me. ”I woke up today and realized I’ve spent an eternity chasing my own tail.” Illustration by Howard Chua-Eoan Notes: Please send contorni (not contortions) and other feedback to Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. [1] Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895 after the Qing Dynasty, which ruled the mainland, lost a war. The Chinese Nationalists (aka the Kuomintang) under Chiang Kai-shek took over the territory in 1945 at the Japanese defeat; it became the refuge of his Republic of China after Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China. [2] The island was given the name Formosa, which means beautiful, by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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