49 Facts About Taiwan

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south.

The main island of Taiwan, known as Formosa, has an area of 35, 808 square kilometres, with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanised population is concentrated.

Taiwan is a developed country, ranking 20th on GDP per capita.

Taiwan is claimed by the PRC, which refuses diplomatic relations with countries that recognise the ROC.

Taiwan maintains official diplomatic relations with 13 out of 193 UN member states and the Holy See, though many others maintain unofficial diplomatic ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates.

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International organisations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only on a non-state basis under various names.

Various names for the island of Taiwan remain in use, each derived from explorers or rulers during a particular historical period.

The modern word "Taiwan" is derived from this usage, which is written in different transliterations in Chinese historical records.

Taiwan was joined to the Asian mainland in the Late Pleistocene, until sea levels rose about 10, 000 years ago.

Around 6, 000 years ago, Taiwan was settled by farmers, most likely from what is southeast China.

In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan, making it a prefecture of Fujian province while retaining its administrative seat under Koxinga as the capital.

In September 1945 following Japan's surrender in WWII, ROC forces, assisted by small American teams, prepared an amphibious lift into Taiwan to accept the surrender of the Japanese military forces there, under General Order No 1, and take over the administration of Taiwan.

Ever since losing control of mainland China, the Kuomintang continued to claim sovereignty over 'all of China', which it defined to include mainland China, Taiwan (including Penghu), Outer Mongolia, and other minor territories.

Infrastructure projects such as the Sun Yat-sen Freeway, Taoyuan International Airport, Taichung Harbor, and Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant were launched, while the rise of steel, petrochemical, and shipbuilding industries in southern Taiwan saw the transformation of Kaohsiung into a special municipality on par with Taipei.

Taiwan sought to move more authority to "bensheng ren" instead of continuing to promote "waisheng ren" (residents who came to the island in the 1940s and 50s after Japan's surrender and their descendants) as his father had.

In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwan-born, US-educated technocrat, to be his vice-president.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping had earlier expressed that Taiwan was part of China, who reserves the right to use force but will strive to achieve peaceful reunification.

East and south of Taiwan are a complex system of belts formed by, and part of the zone of, active collision between the North Luzon Trough portion of the Luzon Volcanic Arc and South China, where accreted portions of the Luzon Arc and Luzon forearc form the eastern Coastal Range and parallel inland Longitudinal Valley of Taiwan, respectively.

Major seismic faults in Taiwan correspond to the various suture zones between the various terranes.

The People's Republic of China claims that Taiwan is Chinese territory and that itself has replaced the ROC government in 1949, becoming the sole legal government of China.

Zhang paid a reciprocal visit to Taiwan and met Wang on 25 June 2014, making Zhang the first minister-level PRC official to ever visit Taiwan.

In 2017, Taiwan again began to be excluded from the WHO even in an observer capacity.

Political reforms beginning in the late 1970s resulted in the end of martial law in 1987, and Taiwan transformed into a multiparty democracy in the early 1990s.

Some members of the coalition, such as former President Chen Shui-bian, argue that it is unnecessary to proclaim independence because "Taiwan is already an independent, sovereign country" and the Republic of China is the same as Taiwan.

Roughly 84 per cent of Taiwan's population are descendants of Han Chinese immigrants from Qing China between 1683 and 1895.

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Taiwan cut compulsory military service to four months in 2013 but a proposal to extend military service is under consideration.

Taiwan is one of the "Four Asian Tigers" alongside Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore.

In 1962, Taiwan had a per-capita gross national product (GNP) of $170, placing its economy on a par with those of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2019, the HDI calculated by Taiwan's government was the seventh-highest in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the 1990s, a number of Taiwan-based technology firms have expanded their reach around the world.

Today Taiwan has a dynamic, capitalist, export-driven economy with gradually decreasing state involvement in investment and foreign trade.

Taiwan's rise in the key semiconductor industry was largely attributed to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Taiwan is the 9th largest in the world by market capitalization as well as the world's biggest semiconductor manufacturing company, surpassing Intel and Samsung.

Taiwan has unofficial diplomatic offices for tourism and other economically related duties, mostly under a politically neutral name.

Taiwan is well known for adhering to the Confucian paradigm of valuing education as a means to improve one's socioeconomic position in society.

Taiwan is one of the top-performing countries in reading literacy, mathematics and sciences.

Taiwan has been praised for its high university entrance rate where the university acceptance rate has increased from around 20 per cent before the 1980s to 49 per cent in 1996 and over 95 per cent since 2008, among the highest in Asia.

Taiwan is the most religious region in the Chinese-speaking world.

Taiwan is clearly an outlier in the top 3, all-clear countries.

Current healthcare system in Taiwan, known as National Health Insurance, was instituted in 1995.

Cultures of Taiwan are a hybrid blend from various sources, incorporating elements of the majority traditional Chinese culture, aboriginal cultures, Japanese cultural influence, traditional Confucianist beliefs, and increasingly, Western values.

Taiwan has hosted the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards since 1962.

Taiwan has a high density of 24-hour convenience stores, which, in addition to the usual services, provide services on behalf of financial institutions or government agencies, such as collection of parking fees, utility bills, traffic violation fines, and credit card payments.

Baseball is commonly considered as Taiwan's national sport and is a popular spectator sport.

The Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan was established in 1989 and eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2003.

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Two other teams from Taiwan compete in the ASEAN Basketball League, a professional men's basketball league in East and Southeast Asia.

Taiwan participates in international sporting organizations and events under the name of "Chinese Taipei" due to its political status.

Taiwan's reached a career-high singles ranking of world No 23 in 2013 and world No 1 in the doubles rankings in 2014.

Taiwan has a long history of strong international presence in table tennis.