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Episode 6: What China's warplanes flying over Taiwan means

China flew over 150 airplanes over the Taiwanese air defense zone in the past week or so. Taiwan retaliated with its aircrafts, alert to defend itself if a threat arose. So far, there hasn't been an open war. But what does this mean for Taiwan's independence and democracy ?Why does China want to attack Taiwan ?Taiwan is a tiny island near China. More than 70 years ago, two groups of people competed to win the right to rule China. A group called the Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, won. The other group, called the Nationalist forces, lost and escaped from mainland China to a small island near China, called Taiwan. They set up their own democratic government in Taiwan and called themselves a separate country.China, in the meanwhile, did not think much of this plan. The Chinese believe that Taiwan is very much a part of mainland China and would like to take that piece of land.But so far, Taiwan remains independent, with its own government, elected through a democratic process. They have also grown quite rich by becoming one of the largest manufacturers of computer parts. But now, the threat of being taken over by China may have become more real for Taiwan.What will other countries do?The US, for one, will likely sell arms and weapons to Taiwan to help it defend itself. The US has so far been keen on supporting democracies, when Communist countries are a threat.In the podcast, we answer these questions from our young listeners– What does recognising a country mean ?– Why should two very large countries fight over a tiny little island ?