Since 1949, both Taiwan’s government, The Republic of China, and Mainland China’s
government, The People’s Republic of China have claimed validity as the legitimate, and
only, “China”.
So, what’s going on?
Which is the “real” China, and why do the two countries hate each other?
A small disclaimer: We use these names to simplify the issue and are not siding with
one or the other.
So, there used to be a single China under a single government.
But in 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, the Communist party forced the ruling government
of China to flee.
They went to Taiwan, an ex-Japanese owned island separated from Mainland China by the
Taiwan Strait.
The Communist Party instituted themselves as the new Chinese government the two governments
continued their war.
The US, NATO, and most Western nations recognized the exiled Taiwanese government as legitimate.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Bloc and a few other countries recognized the new Communist government
instead.
However, in 1979, the United States switched allegiances from the old Chinese government
to the new Communist one in order to gain influence against the Soviet Union.
Mainland China then reached out to Taiwan with a “Three Links” attempt to normalized
relations.
The three links were “transportation, commerce, and communication”.
In response, Taiwan implemented their “Three Noes” foreign policy with Mainland China,
“no contact, no compromise and no negotiation”.
But by 1987, Taiwan began allowing residents to visit Mainland China, and both countries
established institutions to deal with governmental relations.
Interestingly, since there has never been a formal declaration of peace from either
side, both countries are technically still at war today.
In 1992, the two governments came to a Consensus, acknowledging that there was only one China,
and that each believed themselves to be it.
Basically, they agreed to disagree, which has let the two discuss negotiations without
being bogged down on this primary issue.
The opposition to this consensus has been the movement to make Taiwan an independent
country with it’s own, separate, national identity.
A third solution, called “One Country, Two Systems” would establish Taiwan as one of
China’s autonomous regions, like Hong Kong and Macau (ma-COW) However, in 2005, the Mainland
Chinese passed a law to prevent Taiwan from “seceding”, by authorizing “non-peaceful”
means to unify Taiwan back into Mainland China.
Since a number of groups in Taiwan want to establish independence, this law could cause
a military showdown between the two countries, something Taiwan is eager to avoid.
At the same time, many in Taiwan are content with the status quo of mutually denying each
other’s legitimacy.
Since then, a 2014 meeting between officials from both countries marked the first direct
government contact since 1949.
From this meeting, and several high profile negotiations in the late 2000s, the two countries
have attempted to increase their economic, trade, healthcare, and travel relations.
However the two countries still seems far from reconciliation due to the complicated,
and sometimes paradoxical nature of their dispute.
Although each region has a unique story, China also has ongoing disputes with both Hong Kong
and Tibet.
To learn more about these complex issues, check out the videos we made right over here.
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