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Taiwan
Republic of China National
name: Zhonghua Minguo President: Ma
Ying-jeou (2008) Prime Minister:
Liu Chao-shiuan (2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 12,456 sq mi (32,261 sq km);
total area: 13,892 sq mi (35,980 sq km) Population (2007 est.): 23,174,294 (growth
rate: 0.6%); birth rate: 12.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.2/1000;
life expectancy: 77.6; density per sq mi: 1,860
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Taipei, 7,871,900 (metro. area), 2,722,600 (city
proper) Other large cities:
Kaohsiung, 1,514,900; Tai Chung, 1,069,900; Tainan, 755,800; Keelung,
410,500 Monetary unit: Taiwan
dollar
Languages:
Chinese (Mandarin, official), Taiwanese (Min),
Hakka dialects
Ethnicity/race:
Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland
Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%
Religions:
mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%,
Christian 4.5%, other 2.5% Literacy
rate: 96.1% (2003) Economic summary:
GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $695.4 billion; per capita $30,100.
Real growth rate: 5.7%. Inflation: 1.8%.
Unemployment: 3.9%. Arable land: 24%.
Agriculture: rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry,
beef, milk; fish. Labor force: 10.78 million; agriculture 5.3%,
industry 36.8%, services 57.9%. Industries: electronics,
petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel,
machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products,
pharmaceuticals. Natural resources: small deposits of coal,
natural gas, limestone, marble, asbestos. Exports: $189.4
billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): computer products and electrical
equipment, metals, textiles, plastics and rubber products, chemicals
(2002). Imports: $181.6 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery
and electrical equipment 44.5%, minerals, precision instruments
(2002). Major trading partners: China, U.S., Hong Kong, Japan,
South Korea (2005). Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use: 12.49 million (Sept. 2000); mobile
cellular: 16 million (Sept. 2000). Radio broadcast stations: AM
218, FM 333, shortwave 50 (1999). Radios: 16 million (1994).
Television broadcast stations: 29 (plus two repeaters) (1997).
Televisions: 8.8 million (1998). Internet Service Providers
(ISPs): 8 (2000). Internet users: 11.6 million
(2001). Transportation: Railways:
total: 1,108 km (519 km electrified) (2002). Highways: total:
35,931 km; paved: 31,583 km (including 608 km of expressways);
unpaved: 4,348 km (2000). Ports and harbors: Chi-lung
(Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung, Su-ao, T'ai-chung. Airports:
39 (2002). International disputes:
involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China,
Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; claimants in
November 2002 signed the “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties
in the South China Sea,” a mechanism to ease tension but which
fell short of a legally binding “code of conduct”; Paracel
Islands occupied by China, but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam; claims
Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai), as
does China.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
The Republic of China today consists of the island of Taiwan, an island
100 mi (161 km) off the Asian mainland in the Pacific; two off-shore
islands, Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu; and the nearby islets of the
Pescadores chain. It is slightly larger than the combined areas of
Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Government
Multiparty democracy.
History
Taiwan was inhabited by aborigines of Malayan descent when Chinese from
the areas now designated as Fukien and Kwangtung began settling it in the
7th century, becoming the majority. The Portuguese explored the area in
1590, naming it “the Beautiful” (Formosa). In 1624 the Dutch
set up forts in the south, the Spanish in the north. The Dutch forced out
the Spanish in 1641 and controlled the island until 1661, when Chinese
general Koxinga took it over and established an independent kingdom. The
Manchus seized the island in 1683 and held it until 1895, when it passed
to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese War. Japan developed and exploited
Formosa. It was the target of heavy American bombing during World War II,
and at the close of the war the island was restored to China.
After the defeat of its armies on the mainland, the Nationalist
government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan in Dec.
1949. Chiang dominated the island, even though only 15% of the population
consisted of the 1949 immigrants, the Kuomintang. He maintained a
600,000-man army in the hope of eventually recovering the mainland.
Beijing viewed the Taiwanese government with suspicion and anger,
referring to Taiwan as a breakaway province of China.
The UN seat representing all of China was held by the Nationalists for
over two decades before being lost in Oct. 1971, when the People's
Republic of China was admitted and Taiwan was forced to abdicate its seat
to Beijing.
Chiang died at 87 of a heart attack on April 5, 1975. His son, Chiang
Ching-kuo, continued as prime minister and was a dominant figure in the
Taipei regime. In April 1991, President Lee Teng-hui formally declared an
end to emergency rule, which had existed since Chiang's forces originally
occupied the island. In the first full election in many decades, the
governing Kuomintang in Dec. 1991 won 71% of the vote, affirming the
island's opposition to reunification with China. In Feb. 1993 the
president, himself a native Taiwanese, nominated Lien Chan, another
native, to be prime minister, marking a further generational shift away
from the mainland exiles.
In the island's first free presidential election, voters defied
mainland intimidation and gave 54% of the vote to incumbent president Lee
Teng-hui.
In 1998, Taiwan renewed its push for a separate UN seat—its sixth
attempt in recent years. The move has been blocked each time by the
Beijing government.
President Lee Teng-hui rankled mainland China by announcing in July
1999 that he was abandoning the long-standing “One China”
policy that had kept the peace between the small island and its powerful
neighbor and that he would from then on deal with China on a
“state-to-state basis.” China, which had vowed to someday
unite Taiwan with the mainland, retaliated by conducting submarine warfare
exercises and missile tests near the island in an effort to intimidate its
tiny brazen neighbor, as it had once before in 1996.
In the March 2000 presidential race, voters elected pro-independence
candidate Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party, ending more
than 50 years of Nationalist rule.
Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization in Jan. 2002, just one day
after China gained entry. In August President Chen outraged China when he
asserted that Taiwan and China are separate countries and that a
referendum on independence for Taiwan is a “basic human
right.”
The day before the March 20, 2004, elections, President Chen Shui-bian
and Vice President Annette Lu survived an assassination attempt. Chen won
the election over Lien Chan by just 30,000 votes out of 13 million cast.
The country's first-ever referendum failed because less than 50% of
eligible voters weighed in on its questions. The referendum asked if
Taiwan should arm itself with additional defensive weapons if China does
not withdraw its missiles and if Taiwan should continue to negotiate with
China.
Tension between China and Taiwan intensified in March 2005, when China
passed an antisecession law that said the country could use force if
Taiwan moved toward achieving independence. “The state shall employ
non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's
sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the legislation stated.
Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian called the bill a “law of
aggression.” Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets
to protest the bill.
In 2005, China met with several Taiwanese opposition leaders in an
effort to undermine Taiwan's defiant president. Lien Chan, who heads the
opposition Nationalist Party, traveled to China in April and met with
President Hu Jintao. It was the first meeting between Nationalist and
Communist Party leaders since 1949, when the defeated Nationalists
retreated to Taiwan. Lien called the visit a “journey of
peace.” In May, Hu met with another opposition leader, James Soong,
chairman of the People First Party. In a joint communiqué intended
to restart negotiations between Taiwan and China, they agreed to a
principle of “two sides of the strait, one China.”
President Chen tested China in February 2006, when he announced that he
was rescinding the National Unification Council, a group that was
established in 1990 to deal with reunification issues with China. He
stopped short of abolishing the council, saying, “Taiwan has no
intention of changing the status quo.”
In June 2006, Taiwan's legislature initiated proceedings to oust
President Chen because of allegations of corruption involving his family
and senior administration officials, but the motion failed later that
month. In November, prosecutors indicted Wu Shu-chen, the wife of
President Chen Shui-ban, charging that she spent $450,000 in public funds
on personal expenditures. Authorities also said that President Chen
submitted fake receipts when drawing from the same fund and lied about how
he spent the money.
Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang resigned in May 2007. President Chen
Shui-bian appointed Chang Chun-hsiung as his successor.
In parliamentary elections in January 2008, the opposition Kuomintang
soundly defeated Chen's Democratic Progressive Party, taking 81 out of 113
seats. President Chen resigned as head of the party. The result of vote
was considered a rejection of Chen's policy of edging toward independence
from China. Taiwan continued its move toward warmer relations with China
in March, when Ma Ying-jeou, of Kuomintang, prevailed over Frank Hsieh, of
the Democratic Progressive Party, 58.4% to 41.6%, in presidential
elections. Ma's victory ended eight years of Democratic Progressive Party
rule. Ma said he planned to pursue closer ties with China and spur
Taiwan's economic growth. Ma, however, does not favor political
reunification with China.
Ma reinforced his desire to pursue closer ties to mainland China in
June when he outlined his economic plan. He called for access to
China’s financial markets for Taiwanese businesses, regular
passenger flights and cargo passage across the Taiwan Strait, among other
proposals. He insisted, however, that China remove the short- and
medium-range missiles facing Taiwan before he will engage in peace talks
with China. Ma realized several of his goals in November, Chen Yunlin, the
head of the Chinese organization that negotiates with Taiwan, visited the
island, becoming the most senior mainland official to do so since 1949. He
met President Ma and signed several pacts that will lead to a signficant
increase in transportion and shipments of food between the two sides.
Former president Chen, who lost a reelection bid in March, was arrested
in November and charged with corruption and money laundering. Chen, who
has long asserted that Taiwan and China are separate countries, denied the
allegations, claiming he was being persecuted to appease China.
See also Encyclopedia: Taiwan. U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Taiwan Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and
Statistics www.stat.gov.tw/ . See also Timeline: Taiwan Key Events
(1945–Present).
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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