 Taiwan (National Flag)
The flag was officially introduced in 1928. The red color symbolizes China,
ie. he, the largest Chinese people. The white sun on the blue field is
the emblem of Guomindang, created in the late 1800's. The blue color stands for
equality and justice, the white for brotherhood and sincerity; the white
triangles refer to the 12 hours of the day. The flag, created by the party's
founder, Sun Yat-sen, was in use throughout China until 1949.
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Taiwan (History)
The island's indigenous population of Malay and Polynesian tribes, from the
early 1600's was displaced by an immigration of poor Chinese from the
mainland. At the same time, the interest of European powers in the island
grew. The Portuguese first visited Taiwan in 1590, and in 1624 a Dutch
settlement was established, followed by a Spanish one in 1626. In 1646, the
Netherlands occupied Spanish possessions and dominated the entire island, until
in 1661 the pirate and smuggler king Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) defeated the
Dutch and established Taiwan as a base. for resistance to the Manchurian Qing
dynasty, which had begun the conquest of China in 1644. It was not until 1683
that Qing succeeded in defeating the Zheng family and gaining control of the
island, which was subordinated to Fujian Province. The size of the Chinese
population at this time is estimated at approximately 200,000, but despite official
principles of restricting migration to Taiwan, this figure grew to 2.5
million. in 1842. In 1886, Taiwan became an independent province and a series of
reforms were initiated. After The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 forced the Qing
Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan, which for the next half century used the island
as an agricultural supply base, while seeking to integrate the population
through the use of Japanese as a language of instruction. The island experienced
significant economic development as well as health and educational advances.
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the world, such as TWN which represents the official name of Taiwan.
After World War II, control of Taiwan was transferred in October 1945 to
China's nationalist regime led by Chiang Kai-shek. The new regime, however, was
both corrupt and brutal; protests from the Taiwanese people were met in 1947 by
a wave of terror that left thousands dead and a lasting trauma in the
relationship between the nationalist regime and the island's Taiwanese Chinese
majority. In 1949-50, the remnants of the nationalist regime and its armies were
evacuated to Taiwan after the Communist victory on the mainland, and the island
then served as the base for Chiang Kai - shek's Chinese Republic, which
continued to claim to be the legitimate government of all of China. Thanks to
the 1950-53 Korean War, Taiwan gained US attention as well as economic and
military aid, and with US support until 1971, the Nationalist regime was able to
maintain its position as China's representative to the United Nations. Despite a
principally democratic constitution, Chiang Kai-shek ruled the country with an
iron fist until his death in 1975, and it fell to his son Chiang Ching-kuo to
reform the authoritarian regime during his tenure as Taiwan's leader
1975-88. Internationally, however, Taiwan weakened with the loss of UN space in
1971, and during the 1970's, most countries, including the United States and
Japan, transferred their diplomatic relations with China to the People's
Republic. Under Lee Teng-hui, the first native Taiwanese to hold the presidency,
economic growth continued and political liberalization accelerated. In 1991, the
Taiwanese government abandoned the principle of representing the whole of China,
opening up Taiwanese tourism and extensive investment on the mainland. The
gradual softening of relations between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan
in 1990 ' However, the years were suspended in 1995-96 and again in 1999, both
in connection with Lee Teng-huis' efforts to mark Taiwan's de facto
independence. The March 2000 presidential election placed opposition candidate
Chen Shui-bian (b. 1951) in the country's highest office, thus accomplishing the
democratization of Taiwan.
Democracy has consolidated in Taiwan since 2000, with free and orderly
presidential and parliamentary elections becoming the norm. Relations with
mainland China, however, remain Taiwan's dominant issue, and here the leading
parties have had to adjust their policies. The GMD, originally based in the
mainland Chinese population of Taiwan, has moved away from its profile as the
Pan-Chinese Nationalist Party and has implemented a "Taiwaneseization" of the
party. The DPP, based in the Taiwanese Chinese people, has in turn adjusted its
secessionist demands and is today satisfied with Taiwan's de facto independence
from China. Since the end of the 1990's, China has increased the pressure on
Taiwan to achieve a reunification of the country under the formula one country -
two systems, and the very large Taiwanese investment in mainland China is a
strong card in Beijing's hand. The first years of DPP leader Chen Shui-bian's
presidency have not been easy for Taiwan. The island was hit by the worst
economic crisis in three decades in 2000 and 2001, and there have been
earthquakes and floods.
An assassination attempt, shrouded in much mystery, against incumbent
President Chen Shui-bian in the final phase of the 2004 election campaign cast a
shadow over democratization; the assassination attempt was presumably the
deciding factor in Chen Shui - bian's narrow election victory in 2004, and he
was accused by the opposition Guomindang party of staging the event. Taiwan's
business has recovered from the island's economic crisis in 2001, but its
dependence on China is growing in line with the huge Taiwanese investment on the
mainland. The adoption of an anti-secession law in Beijing in March 2005 sparked
protests in Taiwan, reminding the world that there is no easy solution to the
Taiwan problem.
Growing frustration over the lack of political results in recent years of
Chen Shui - bian's second presidential term 2004-08, as well as concerns about
the possible costs of Chen's confrontational course towards the People's
Republic of China, paved the way for a regular upheaval in Taiwanese politics in
2008: first, Guomindang, along with party allies, won an overwhelming victory in
the January 2008 parliamentary elections, with three-quarters of the seats going
to the Guomindang-dominated "Blue Coalition". Next, Guomindang's candidate,
former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou, won an equally clear victory over DPP
candidate Frank Hsieh in the March 2008 presidential election with 58% of the
vote against Hsieh's 42%. Guomindang won the two elections on promises of a more
dynamic economic policy, with far-reaching opening for new forms of economic
cooperation with mainland China, and a generally more accommodating policy
towards the Beijing government. But behind the image of a major political
upheaval in Taiwan's political life in 2008 emerges at the same time a growing
common ground between the two major parties in their struggle for the same
center-right voters; thus, too, the DPP's Frank Hsieh had promised a more
accommodating course towards Beijing if elected.
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