Republic of China on Taiwan

Political self-designation for the island commonly known as Taiwan.

Although its international legal status is unclear, the Republic of China on Taiwan functions as an independent state, electing its own leadership and managing its own internal and external affairs. Its neighbor to the west, the People's Republic of China (PRC), claims Taiwan as a province and considers the Taiwanese government to be illegal. Since 1949, Taiwan and China have developed an uneasy standoff, occasionally trading provocations but never engaging in open warfare.

[Page 627]Complex political and economic issues have vested other world powers, notably the United States and Japan, with an interest in the conflict. Such outside forces exert a considerable measure of influence over the actions of both Taiwan and China.

Roots of the Conflict

The history of Taiwan is as complicated as its present political situation, with the island changing hands several times over the past five centuries. After decades of Spanish and Dutch rule, China annexed large parts of Taiwan in the late 1600s. Two centuries later, in 1895, following the Sino-Japanese war, control over Taiwan passed to Japan. Despite Taiwanese resistance, the Japanese dominated the island for the next 50 years. In 1945, at the end of World War II, a defeated Japanese Empire returned Taiwan to China.

The Chinese, however, were experiencing a political crisis at the time. The country's loyalties were divided between followers of Nationalist Party leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Communist Party leader Mao Zedong as China plunged into civil war. Chiang, who had fought both Japan and the Chinese communists on the mainland, faced his first challenge in the form of a revolt by the indigenous Taiwanese, which the Nationalists rigorously repressed. The United States and other western powers recognized Chiang as China's legitimate ruler, whereas the Soviet Union supported the Chinese communists.

While battling the communists, Chiang reestablished Chinese administration in Taiwan. However, the Nationalist Party on the island proved to be thoroughly corrupt, and in 1947, the generalissimo had to call in troops to crush a Taiwanese revolt. As chance would have it, two years later Chiang lost his struggle with the communists and was forced to evacuate to Taiwan with more than one million supporters. The generalissimo's presence on the island and the threat of a powerful Communist Chinese neighbor seeking reunification sent shock waves through Taiwan's already tumultuous political life.

From Taiwan, the generalissimo still claimed to represent the legitimate government of all Chinese people. He considered Mao's communist regime to have usurped his legitimate rule. For its part, Communist China, formally known as the People's Republic of China (PRC), perceived Taiwan as a renegade province and reserved the right to take whatever measures it thought necessary to reunite the island with the mainland.

Taiwan's Nationalist government, however, had more to worry about than PRC threats. In 1947, frustrated by the corruption that plagued a government run by Chiang's imported mainlanders, the Taiwanese rose up once again. The revolt was again suppressed and Chiang declared martial law, a condition that stayed in effect for the next 40 years. During this time, no opposition party legally could be formed, and the government ruled with an iron fist. Throughout this period, the Nationalists continued to espouse the goal of reuniting island and mainland under Nationalist rule. At the popular level, however, a Taiwanese identity, distinct from a Chinese identity, began to appeal to an increasing number of islanders. That sense of identity eventually changed the Taiwanese public's perspective on the desirability of joining the mainland under one government.

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