
Honor guards raise a Taiwanese flag at the Presidential Palace in Taipei, Taiwan Oct. 10, 2023. — REUTERS
Published October 29, 2024
TAIPEI – Chinese President Xi Jinping asked U.S. President Joe Biden last year to toughen the language the United States uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the private conversation.
Below are some questions and answers about what is meant by the term “Taiwan independence”:
WHAT IS TAIWAN’S HISTORY AND FORMAL NAME TODAY?
Formerly known as Formosa, the island has been home to indigenous people for thousands of years, before the Dutch and Spanish briefly ruled parts of it in the 1600s.
The Qing dynasty incorporated Taiwan as part of Fujian province in 1684 and only declared it a separate Chinese province in 1885.
Following the Qing’s defeat in a war with Japan, it became a Japanese colony in 1895. In 1945, it was handed over to the Republic of China government at the end of World War Two.
In 1949 after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist forces, the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan, and Republic of China remains the island’s formal name. Mao set up the People’s Republic of China, and claimed it was the only legitimate Chinese government for the whole country, including Taiwan, as the successor state to the Republic of China.
WHAT IS TAIWAN’S INTERNATIONAL STATUS?
For decades, the Republic of China in Taipei also claimed to be the legitimate Chinese government, but in 1971 it was expelled from the United Nations in favor of the Beijing government. Currently only 12 countries maintain formal ties with Taipei, mostly small and poorer developing nations such as Belize and Tuvalu.
Most major Western countries and U.S. allies maintain close unofficial ties with Taiwan by recognizing the Republic of China passport and having de facto embassies in each other’s capitals.
The United States severed official ties with Taipei in 1979 but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. The United States officially takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty under Washington’s “One China” policy.
China says it will not renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Beijing has offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” model similar to Hong Kong, though no major political party in Taiwan supports that.
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SOURCE: www.bworldonline.com, www.economictimes.com