Located off the southeast coast of China, Taiwan, or Formosa, is a small island in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the largest economic centers in Asia and one of the technology leaders in the world.
Since 1949, Taiwan has had an uncertain political status. It all started with the end of World War II in 1945, which ended up generating a civil war in mainland China. On the one hand was the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintag, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, and on the other, the Communist Party, with Mao Tse Tung as its leader.
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The nationalists, who had been in power in China since 1927, ended up being defeated. With Mao Zedong in power, Chiang Kai-Shek and about 2 million Chinese went to Taiwan in search of refuge.
At the time, Taiwan had recently been returned to China after a period of Japanese domination, which began in 1895, with the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and ended in 1945, with the end of World War II World.
On the island, with the support of the United States, Chiang Kai-Shek establishes a new government, autonomous from the communist regime in mainland China: the Nationalist China. The division reinforces the tense climate of international geopolitics at the time, marked by the Cold War and the opposition between the United States and its capitalist system with the Soviet Union and socialism.
Political hostility is even more evident when the China Popular Republic Mao Zedong joined the USSR in 1950, a relationship that lasted until 1960. In 1954, following a bombing of the Taiwan Strait by the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and the United States sign a mutual defense agreement.
With American economic support, Taiwan has exceptional growth. Alongside South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, the then Nationalist China is part of the first group of Asian Tigers. The development reflects on the population, which has a standard of living similar to that of countries like the United States, Japan, among others.
diplomatic difficulties
From 1970 onwards, the scenario changes to Taiwan. In 1971, Taiwan is replaced by the People's Republic of China in the United Nations (UN), a reflection of the opening and improvement of relations between Mainland China and the West. In 1979, the US resumed diplomatic relations with China and transferred its embassy from Taipei, capital of Taiwan, to Beijing. This puts an end to the defense treaty they had with the island. However, economic and military support continues.
Democracy
Despite having a better quality of life than Mainland China, Taiwan was also not under democratic rule. Chiang Kai-Shek governed the island in a dictatorial military regime that would not end even with his death, in 1975, since the Nationalist Party is still in power.
In 1988, Lee Teng-Hui, the first native president of Taiwan, is elected. Free and democratic elections arrive in the 1990s. However, it was only in 2000 that the country's first non-nationalist leader was elected – Chen Shui-Bian, of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).
Sovereign state or Chinese province?
Chen Shui-Bian's election has started to raise discussions about Taiwan's status, as the PDP has a position favorable to the independence of the island – a position that even led him to be re-elected in 2004.
Currently, Taiwan has its own government, national currency, armed forces and independent institutions. The island managed to maintain such autonomy through the “One country, two systems” policy, adopted by the China in the 1980s and which is also adopted in Hong Kong and Macau, special administrative regions of the country.
Today, Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China and is considered by many to be a sovereign state. It is also called an autonomous island and breakaway territory.
However, China and most of the international community do not see the island that way. For them, Taiwan is a Chinese province – a rebel one, as the pro-independence movement is very strong in the territory.
Because of this, Taiwan has difficulties in establishing diplomatic relations with other countries. A position like this runs the risk of having a strained relationship with China, one of the greatest economic powers and important pieces of world geopolitics, since the country states that a nation cannot have relations with China and Taiwan, but only one of them.
After being withdrawn from the UN, Taiwan made successive attempts to rejoin the international institution, which always intensified tensions with China. In 2005, the country even approved, in parliament, an anti-secession law, which authorizes the use of force against the island if the territory declares independence.
Taiwan's future is still uncertain. For the island's current president, Tsai Ing-Wen, of the PDP, Taiwan will not accept any agreement from China that could destroy the territory's sovereignty and democracy. However, despite the strength of the pro-independence movement on the island, the nationalist party, which sympathizes with Beijing and, consequently, with the idea of unification, has gained strength in recent years elections.