Taiwan Independance
This is a confusing issue that is kept deliberately ambiguous by all parties. Taiwan’s political status has been perpetually in question since the end of World War II in 1945. The then Republic of China leaders previously fled off the mainland to the recently ceded island of Taiwan where they established what is now called The Republic of China (ROC). The People’s Republic of China (PRC) hold a claim on the territory of Taiwan, which was ceded to “China” in the armistice that ended the second world war. Since there is only “one China,” Taiwan legally belongs to the PRC. Until the late 70s, the ROC laid the exact same claim on mainland China, hoping to one day conquer it and bring it back under the ROC rule.
On the other hand, China has not militarily subdued the ROC government now in Taiwan. Taiwan has its own president, its own military, and its own trading partners. For all intents and purposes, it is a sovereign nation.
Under Mao Zedong, the PRC wished to “liberate” Taiwan and install socialism. Now, China wishes to unify China under the ‘One country, two systems” model utilized in Hong Kong and other special administrative regions of China. The current PRC view on Taiwan’s political status is that "the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China". Taiwan is a Chinese province that has not yet been fully unified. The PRC calls for re-unification, and threatens military action if Taiwan formally declared their independence.
This puts both countries on shaky ground. There is a tense agreement to maintain the status quo to spare unnecessary bloodshed, so Taiwan agrees to remain “China,” officially. However, many in Taiwanese wish to become the Republic of Taiwan, a position that the country cannot afford to claim in the face of Chinese military action.
The rest of the world is also ambiguous on the issue, out of necessity. The United States trades with both China and Taiwan heavily, and “acknowledges” (not “supports”) China’s position on Taiwan. Officially, the US takes the same position as the UN, that the PRC is the only China. However, the US also acknowledges the sovereignty of the ROC.
For the time being, the world is content to embrace the ambiguity of language surrounding the political status of Taiwan in order to preserve the status quo.
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