Taiwan Overview

Taiwan Overview

Taiwan is a small island country located east of China. It is also commonly known as the Republic of China, Taiwan is best known for overthrowing communist Chinese rule and becoming an independent, democratic country. While many Americans do not possess much knowledge about his island, its history and other facts can be truly interesting.

The modern history of Taiwan begins in the last decade of the 16th century when a Portuguese ship passed the island and the crew dubbed the island "Ilha Formosa" which translates into "beautiful island". The Dutch ended up with control over the island until 1662 when a Chinese pirate defeated them. Unfortunately, the Chinese did not wish to rule the island. For the next two hundred years, rule over Taiwan fluctuated between the Manchu empire of China and the indigenous people of Taiwan. Finally, in 1887, the Manchu authorities declared Taiwan a "province" of China. This was done to attempt to out maneuver Japan who was collecting territory in south Asia. Unfortunately, this did not work as Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War and Taiwan was ceded to Japanese rule. The Chinese regained control of Taiwan during World War II in 1943 when the Allied Powers decided to allow Taiwan to be returned to Chinese rule. In the early 1950s, the United Nations' Charter backed up a provision in the San Francisco Peace Treaty that ended World War II that Taiwanese citizens would determine the status of their island and who ran it. To this day, China and Taiwan have argued about which country to be in control of the island (Milestones in Taiwan's History, 2006).

Taiwan is a relatively small island situated in East Asia. It is the largest body of land between the Philippines and Japan (Government Information Office, Republic of China, 2007). The island is mostly mountainous with two thirds of the land area covered in mountains (Taiwan, 2007). Taiwan borders four bodies of water including, the Philippine Sea, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Straight and the South China Sea. Housing a tropical marine climate gives Taiwan a rainy season from June to August and leaves it was cloudiness most of the year (CIA World Fact Book, 2007).

Roughly twenty three million people reside in Taiwan. Around eighteen million people are "native" Taiwanese, the descendents of the Chinese who migrated to Taiwan in the 18th and 19th centuries. Currently, there are around 475,000 aborigines that live in the central and eastern area of the island who are supposedly of Malayo-Polynesian origin. The rest of the population is comprised of Chinese who came to Taiwan after World War II (Taiwan, 2007). All of these people reside on an island with an area of 36,000 square kilometers, making Taiwan one of the most densely populated countries in the world (Government Information Office, Republic of Taiwan, 2007). Most of these people live in or near the capital, Taipei and in other large cities throughout in the country.

Mandarin Chinese is the official language of Taiwan. However, it is not the only language spoken by the Taiwanese population. Many speak Taiwanese, a language that originated with the Chinese who immigrated to Taiwan before 1949 (Government Information Office, 2007). Finally, Hakka is spoken in several communities throughout Taiwan however it is not as common as Mandarin or Taiwanese (Taiwan, 2007).

Likewise, there are several main religions worshipped in Taiwan. Taiwan's Interior Ministry found out that there are around eleven million religious followers in Taiwan. From these eleven million, seventy-five percent are Buddhist or Taoist (Taiwan, 2007). Although Buddhism and Taoism are the most popular religions in Taiwan, the country supports complete religious freedom to all citizens as long as the religion they choose to worship is officially recognized by the government. A group of followers must register with the Civil Affairs Department of the Ministry of the Interior and meet several requirements such as a minimum number of believers, organizations, and a proper amount of funds. However, once a religion is officially recognized, followers can meet freely and hold religious services as long as the services are within the stipulations of the law. As of 2002, the Ministry of the Interior had recognized twenty five different religions in Taiwan including, Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and others (Government Information Office, Republic of China, 2007).

Taiwan is run by a multiparty democracy that is housed in the capital, Taipei. The country is divided into counties and also includes several smaller islands located nearby. It is run under a constitution that was adopted in 1946 and went into effect exactly a year later. Like America, the Taiwanese government is separated into three branches, Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. The executive branch is run by the chief of state who is President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu. Following the chief of states is the head of the government, the premier, Su Tseng-chang and the Vice Premier, Tsai Ing-wen. The cabinet is called the Executive Yuan and its members are appointed by the president upon the premier's recommendations. Elections are conducted by popular vote every four years. Only the president and vice president are elected. The Premier and Vice Premier are appointed by the President. The Legislative branch consists of the Legislative Yuan made up of 225 seats. These members serve three-year terms. However, a constitutional amendment was recently approved that will reduce the number of seats from 225 to 113 in 2007. The judicial branch is the Judicial Yuan and consists of justices that are appointed by the president with the approval of the Legislative Yuan (CIA World Fact Book, 2007). Finally, the legislative branch now, also as a result of a constitutional

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