Taiwan

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A CIA map of Taiwan

Taiwan (Traditional Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣, Simplified Chinese: 台湾, Pinyin: Taiwan) is a democratic island country, officially known as the Republic of China (Taiwan) in East Asia. It is southeast of the communist People's Republic of China (PRC), south of Japan, and north of the Philippines. It includes the Pescadores islands. They are located nearby. Taiwan's old name was Formosa. It means "beautiful island" in Portuguese.

Taiwan can also mean:

The Republic of China (ROC). This is because most of the land that the Republic of China controls is on Taiwan. But actually the republic also controls other smaller islands.
The Taiwan Province of the ROC. This province is made up of the island of Taiwan and the Pescadores islands nearby. The province of Taiwan does not include Taiwan's two largest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung. These two cities have different city governments.
The Taiwan Province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), though it is controlled by the ROC (Taiwan).

The largest cities on Taiwan are the capital of Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Most people living on Taiwan (sometimes called Taiwanese) are Han. There are also Taiwanese Aborigines who lived on Taiwan before the Han came to live there.

Taiwan has three large Han groups. They are different in language and places where their ancestors came from: the Southern Fujianese (from China's Fujian Province), the Hakka (from China), and Mainlanders (from Mainland China after 1948).

However, according to this website, these so-called "Han" were really Taiwanese Aborigines who were forced to become like Chinese by the Qing Dynasty.

The communist Image:Flag of PRC.svg People's Republic of China (PRC) says that Taiwan belongs to them, and does not think the Republic of China (Taiwan) has a right to exist as a country. But most Taiwanese citizens think the ROC (Taiwan) does not belong to the People's Republic of China and that the ROC (Taiwan) is a free country. Still others think that Taiwan should change their name to the "Republic of Taiwan" instead of using the current name Republic of China (Taiwan).

[change] History

1517: A Portuguese ship sees the island and names it "Ilha Formosa", or "Beautiful Island" in Portuguese.
17th century: From 1624 until 1661 Dutch rule Taiwan's south and the Spanish rule the north. Before that time only native Austronesian peoples lived there. The Dutch drive away the Spaniards. A Chinese pirate, Koxinga, defeats and drives away the Dutch, because he needed a place to make war against China's foreign rulers, the Manchu (Qing). But the Manchu eventually win.
1860: Taiwan becomes a treaty port following the Treaty of Tientsin, opening the island to widespread contact with the outside world. European and American merchants use and trade the island's resources, especially camphor.
1874: Japan invades southern Taiwan, seemingly to "punish" the aborigines there for the murder of ship-wrecked Okinawan fishermen in 1871, but actually to establishing a colony. Japanese forces withdraw later in the year after the Meiji and Qing empires nearly go to war.
1884-1885: Taiwan is blockaded by French navy during the Sino-Franco War.
1895: Qing China loses the First Sino-Japanese War and "forever" gives Taiwan away to Japan.
1911: The Republic of China (ROC) begins in China. This occurs after the Qing dynasty ends.
1945: Japan loses in World War II and gives up Taiwan, Korea, and other colonial territories. China (ROC) takes Taiwan for the Allies.
1947: Taiwanese widely protest governmental corruption under the Nationalists. Chiang Kai-shek sends in the army to restore order, killing thousands. Some Taiwanese begin the Taiwan independence movement.
1949:
- Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) party and the Communist Party of China (CCP).
- The Nationalists (KMT) lose the war, and escape to the island of Taiwan. They set up Taipei as the temporary capital of China (ROC).
- The Communist Party of China (CCP) establishes Beijing as the capital of The People's Republic of China (PRC).
1979: The KMT government jails many democracy activists who opposed it (Kaohsiung Incident).
1986: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is formed; it is the first party to form in the ROC other than the KMT. It remains illegal for several years, but the KMT government does not try to ban it.
1987: The KMT government lifts the martial law after almost 40 years.
2000: Chen Shui-bian (DPP) becomes president.
2004: Chen Shui-bian is re-elected after a controversial assassination attempt, in which many believed, was staged by Chen. However, after unwillingness to cooperate about his medical records the investagation was inconclusive. This resulted in the distrust of President Chen from the Taiwaness people.

[change] Status of Taiwan

There are two Chinese governments in the world: The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). PRC claims control over the island of Taiwan (which is also known as Taiwan province). Today, in reality, the PRC government controls mainland China, and the ROC government governs Taiwan. The PRC government has never occupied Taiwan. The ROC government occupied mainland China from 1911 to 1949, before losing control of mainland China to the communist PRC.

Today, people who live in Taiwan have different ideas. Many Taiwanese think there is no freedom in China. Although some people on the island want to be united again with China, others want Taiwan to formally declare independence. But most of the people in Taiwan want to keep everything like it is now, at least until China becomes free.

Today most countries of the world recognize the People's Republic of China as China. Even though Taiwan is not recognized by UN as a sovereign nation, most countries still have very close economic and cultural relationship with the island of Taiwan. The government of China have said that if the people of Taiwan formally votes to become the Republic of Taiwan, they will invade Taiwan. So, there is now a situation where both sides are not making any big changes.

In March 2004, China's government passed a law that will allow China to invade Taiwan if the people of Taiwan vote to become the Republic of Taiwan. This law hurt the feelings of the people in Taiwan very much, especially since the government of mainland China does not rule Taiwan. It has caused even more people in Taiwan to not want to be re-united with mainland China.