Why is taiwan separate

On Oct. The ROC withdraws from the U. Democracy activists demonstrating in Kaohsiung are arrested and imprisoned following what is known as the Kaohsiung Incident, which eventually leads to the formation and development of the Democratic Progressive Party in Martial law, in effect since , ends and bans on the formation of new political parties and news publications are lifted.

Democratization goes into high gear. Cross-strait people-to-people exchanges begin. A complete re-election of all Congressional representatives, including members of the Legislature and National Assembly, takes place from to , giving the people of Taiwan full representation.

From through , the ROC Constitution undergoes seven rounds of revision. Taiwan becomes a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Government-authorized representatives from across the Taiwan Strait meet for the first time in Hong Kong, and via subsequent communication and negotiations arrive at various joint acknowledgements and understandings.

The Legislative Yuan passes the Referendum Act, providing a legal basis for citizens to vote directly on issues of local or national importance. The first national referendum is held in conjunction with the third direct presidential election, in which Chen and Lu are re-elected with a slight majority. The Legislative Yuan passes a constitutional amendment package, halving the number of its seats from to and introducing the single-district, two-votes system for legislative elections.

Ma Ying-jeou and Vincent C. What's most important for visitors to understand is that visiting Taiwan from a legal and visa standpoint is that it is different from mainland China. Culturally, the two regions have been diverging since , Taiwan following democratic principles while supporting human rights and freedom of speech and religion, and the mainland following Marxist-Leninist principles with a large degree of social control. Those interested in traditional Chinese culture may find visiting Taiwan more fulfilling.

By many standards, Taiwan is more advanced due to its free-market economy and high-performing industries, and the people are famous for being polite and well-mannered with an overall higher education quality and English proficiency, especially around Taipei and with younger Taiwanese. Less frustrations are experienced in Taiwan with regard to daily tasks, as infrastructure is highly developed, so there are no worries about transit services, bank and currency exchange, utilities, open internet, or interactions with authorities, and the better environment is a result of the Taiwanese passion for recycling and conservation.

As one of the "four Asian tigers", Taiwan's economic growth propelled the island forward toward its democratic dawn in the late s, and today is a multi-party, full democracy.

The media in Taiwan is different from mainland China in that while media content is contained in mainland China, Taiwanese media thrives, and is the base for the Mandarin Chinese Pop Music industry, as well as a major regional hub for production of Chinese-language media.

While the local film industry has recently been underperforming due to increasing Hollywood competition, the media industry as a whole looks across the strait to the large Chinese market, who has become the largest consumer of Taiwanese media. Recent investments from Chinese entities in Taiwanese media have introduced mainland programming to Taiwan, as well as changes in news reporting. Economic interests have complicated the relationship across the strait, and the situation grows more complex as the original participants in the conflict have long passed on.

Taiwan is severely limited in its diplomatic capacity as well as its ability to participate in international organisations and events due to the ongoing conflict with the PRC. Most notably, the Taiwanese Olympic Team must compete under the ambiguous name "Chinese Taipei" and use an alternate flag and anthem, and more recently has been declined admission to events such as the World Health Assembly even though Taiwanese scientists and officials were major contributors to containing the SARS endemic , and private citizens have been declined visitation entry to UN facilities.

Since the Republic of China is a democracy, the people living on Taiwan have the right to form their own opinions with regard to politics and elect leaders which represent their interests. Whether it's a bluff or a genuine threat of invasion, the increase in Chinese military activity in Taiwan over the last few months has caused global concern. At the heart of the divide is that the Chinese government sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country again.

Many Taiwanese people disagree. They feel they in effect have a separate nation - whether or not independence is ever officially declared. Going back to the beginning - the first known settlers in Taiwan were Austronesian tribal people, who are thought to have come from modern day southern China. The island seems to have first appeared in Chinese records in AD, when an emperor sent an expeditionary force to explore the area - something Beijing uses to back its territorial claim.

After a relatively brief spell as a Dutch colony , Taiwan was administered by China's Qing dynasty from to From the 17th Century, significant numbers of migrants started arriving from China, often fleeing turmoil or hardship.

The descendants of these two migrations are now by far the largest demographic groups on the island. After World War Two, Japan surrendered and relinquished control of territory it had taken from China. But in the next few years a civil war broke out in China, and the then-leader Chiang Kai-shek's troops were beaten back by Mao Zedong's Communist armies.

This group, referred to as Mainland Chinese and then making up 1. Having inherited an effective dictatorship, facing resistance from local people resentful of authoritarian rule and under pressure from a growing democracy movement, Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, began allowing a process of democratisation. President Lee Teng-hui, known as Taiwan's "father of democracy", led constitutional changes towards a more democratic political layout, which eventually led to the election of the island's first non-KMT president, Chen Shui-bian, in Relations between China and Taiwan started improving in the s.

China put forward a formula, known as "one country, two systems", under which Taiwan would be given significant autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification. This system was established in Hong Kong to be used as something of a showcase to entice Taiwanese people back to the mainland. Taiwan rejected the offer, but it did relax rules on visits to and investment in China.

In , it also proclaimed the war with the People's Republic of China on the mainland to be over. There were also limited talks between the two sides' unofficial representatives, though Beijing's insistence that Taiwan's Republic of China ROC government is illegitimate meant government-to-government meetings couldn't happen.

And in , when Taiwan elected Chen Shui-bian as president, Beijing was alarmed. Mr Chen had openly backed "independence". A year after Mr Chen was re-elected in , China passed a so-called anti-secession law, stating China's right to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan if it tried to "secede" from China. Mr Chen was succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou, who, after taking office in , sought to improve relations with China through economic agreements.