Taiwan

Some months ago I read a short text (in a nice book about geopolitics) about the China/Taiwan relations that quite surprised me. I knew that Taiwan as a country was created after the Chinese Civil War, when the losing side, the nationalists, retraited to the island. As part of the Cold War, USA decided to protect the island from an invasion from the mainland, communist China. Ever since China has reclaimed that Taiwan is part of China and there's always been the potential for an invasion. Well, there's quite a bit more to the story.

I used to think of Taiwan as a normal free, wealthy country, with a powerful hi-tech economy and a good standard of living. Their big problem, the fear of a Chinese invasion, would be similar (thought more intense and justified) to the fear that Baltic republics have for a Russian invasion. Well, I was a bit confused. One could say that Taiwan is not a a normal country, because it lacks a seat in the United Nations and basically no other nation (save for a handful of small ones) consider it a country and maintain official diplomatic relations with it (the rest of the world keeps informal relations). This lack of formal recognition is also the case for USA, even if they more or less protect the island from a mainlad Chinese invasion.

There are some key points to better understand this odd situation. What we commonly know as Taiwan officially calls itself Republic of China (ROC), while what we commonly call China officially calls itself People's Republic of China (PRC). So, yes, it seems like there are 2 Chinas... Well, not really... The One Chine Policy basically says that there is a single country of China, but with two governments, the ROC and the PRC. For example the ROC government tends to consider itself as the legitimate government of both Taiwan and Mainland China.

One could think that Taiwanese population would massively support independence save for the fear of being invaded by mainland China, but indeed this is not the case, as many people consider that both Chinas form a cultural unity and they should join together, but of course under a democratic government, not under the pseudo-Communist regime. As this is not feasible, many people support the current situation.

Bearing in mind that Taiwan's flagship companies like Acer and Asus have factories in mainland China, one should think that the relations between both countries are not so bad as they could seem.