REPUBLIC OF CHINA

• Official name: Chung-hua Min-kuo (Republic of China). The country is usually known in English as Taiwan. The government on Taiwan claims to be the government of the whole of China (including Mongolia and Tibet), while the government of the People's Republic of China claims Taiwan as a province. The United Nations and most governments recognise the People's Republic as the government of China, including its claim to Taiwan, but support Taiwan's de facto independence and maintain informal relations with the government on Taiwan.
• Location: East Asia
• International organisations: Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organisation. (Since Taiwan is not an internationally recognised state, it belongs to these organisations under the guise of "Chinese Taipei.")
• Borders: None
• Coastline: Pacific Ocean, Taiwan Strait
• Land area: 35,980 Km2
• Population: 23,100,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$29,800 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 34
• Ethnicity: Nearly all the residents of Taiwan consider themselves Chinese. About 85% are Taiwanese while 15% are of mainland Chinese origin. There are small communities of "Aboriginal Taiwanese," tribal people living in remote areas.
• Languages: Standard Chinese (known in Taiwan as Guoyu and in the west as Mandarin) is the official language and is generally understood. The Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese) dialect is widely spoken.
• Religion: Over 90% of the population follow the traditional Chinese mix of mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist beliefs. There is a small (5%) Christian minority.
• Form of government: Presidential democratic republic. Taiwan is divided into 16 counties and five municipalities.
• Capital: Taipei
• Constitution: The Chinese Constitution of 1 January 1947 is still in force, though substantially amended in the 1990s.
• Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term. The Constitution makes the President the dominant figure in the government.
• Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature, and is accountable to it. Wu Den-yih (Wu Dunyi) has been Prime Minister since 10 September 2009.
• Legislature: Taiwan has a unicameral legislature. The National Assembly or Legislative Branch (Li Fa Yuan) has 73 members elected from single-member constituencies, 34 members elected from national party lists by proportional representation, six members representing indigenous Taiwanese communities and eight members representing overseas Chinese.
• Electoral authority: The Central Election Commission administers national elections.
• Freedom House 2009 rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 2
• Transparency International Corruption Index: 33% (87 of 178 countries rated)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom 2010 Index: 78.5% (80 of 178 countries rated)
• Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom 2010 Index: 64% (70 of 179 countries rated)

Political history

China has claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan throughout its history, but firm Chinese rule over the island was established only in 1664. In 1895 China was forced to cede Taiwan to Japan following the Sino-Japanese war. In 1945 the island was returned to Chinese rule following the end of the Second World War.

In 1949 the Communists gained control of the mainland and established the People's Republic. The government of the Republic of China, led by Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Zhongzheng), escaped to Taiwan along with about two million refugees, who changed the island's ethnic composition significantly. Chiang's Guomindang or Nationalists established a one-party state and the Chinese Parliament elected in 1947 continued to sit in Taiwan.

Following Chiang's death in 1975 his son Chiang Ching-kuo (Jiang Jingguo) took office. During his term pressure mounted for democratic reform, but this was resisted by the older generation of refugees from the mainland, who were reluctant to give up the dream of a united China. Following Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988, however, a fully democratic system was established by his successor, Lee Teng-hui (Li Denghui).

In 1994 the 1947 legislature was finally dissolved and a genuine Taiwan legislature elected. The Nationalist Party, claiming credit for establishing democracy as well as for Taiwan's spectacular economic success, retained power until the 2000 presidential elections, when Chen Shui-bian (Chen Shuibian), the candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party, was elected president.

The DPP was founded as a party supporting formal Taiwanese independence from China, but in office Chen did little to advance this cause, in the face of threats of invasion by China should Taiwan ever declare itself independent. The Nationalists continue to support the fiction that the Republic is the legitimate government of China, but the younger generation of Taiwanese seem to have little interest in this issue.

Chen was very narrowly elected to a second term in 2004, and his second terms was marred by allegations of corruption (which led to his conviction for embezzlement, taking bribes, and money laundering after leaving office). At the 2008 legislative election, the KMT won a majority in the National Assembly, and later in the year the KMT's candidate Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) was elected President by a wide margin.

(Note that Taiwan retains the Wade-Giles system of rendering Chinese names into the Roman alphabet, rather than the Pinyin system used in China. I have given both forms of personal names here.)

Freedom House's 2011 report on the Republic of China says: "Taiwan is an electoral democracy... Though significantly less pervasive than in the past, corruption remains an ongoing problem... Taiwanese media reflect a diversity of views and report aggressively on government policies and corruption allegations. The state has relatively little influence over the media... Many observers have raised concerns about self-censorship in response to the PRC's increased political and economic influence in Taiwan... Freedom of assembly is generally respected, and several large-scale demonstrations took place during 2010... The judiciary is independent, and trials are generally fair. However, a series of judicial corruption scandals in 2010 led to the resignations of the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan.

Updated November 2011