Taiwan
台湾省
Province
Province of Taiwan
Name transcription(s)
 • Chinese台湾省 (Táiwān Shěng)
 • AbbreviationTW / 台 (pinyin: Tái; Hokkien: Tâi; Hakka: Thòi)
 • Hokkien POJTâi-oân-séng
 • Hakka PFSThòi-vàn-sén or Thòi-vân-sén
Map showing the location of Taiwan Province
Map showing the location of Taiwan Province
Coordinates: 23°42′N 121°00′E / 23.7°N 121.0°E / 23.7; 121.0
Country People's Republic of China
Established from Fujian1887
Cession to Japan17 April 1895
Placed under the control of the ROC25 October 1945
Claimed as part of PRC1 October 1949
CapitalTaipei
Largest cityNew Taipei
DivisionsSee boundary change
Government
 • CCP SecretarySee representation
 • GovernorSee representation
 • National People's Congress Representation13 deputies
Area
 • Total35,581 km2 (13,738 sq mi)
 • Rank28th
Demographics
 • Ethnic composition98% Han Chinese
2% Gaoshan people
ISO 3166 codeCN-TW
GDP (2022 estimate)[1]CN¥5.12 trillion
 • Per capitaCN¥219,560
HDI (2021)0.916 very high
Taiwan Province
"Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese台湾省
Traditional Chinese臺灣省

Taiwan Province is a nominal administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The PRC constitution defines Taiwan as part of its territories[2] although the PRC has never controlled Taiwan since the PRC's establishment in 1949.[3] Taiwan is currently administered by the Republic of China (ROC).

The political status of Taiwan is complex. Following the Chinese Civil War, the PRC considers itself the successor state of the pre-1949 ROC and the sole legitimate government of "China" since its founding on 1 October 1949, and claims Taiwan and the Penghu Islands as part of its territory under the One China principle. However, the PRC has never administered Taiwan: the Taiwan Area, including all of the contemporary Taiwan Province, is currently administered by the government of the Republic of China (ROC), which disputes the PRC's claims.

The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 near the end of the Chinese Civil War. While by 1950 it had obtained control over most of the territories previously administered by the Republic of China (ROC), it never gained control of an area made up of Taiwan. Instead, Taiwan has been administered by the ROC (which is now commonly known as "Taiwan") since the end of World War II in 1945, continuing through the Chinese Civil War and past the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

While the PRC claims Taiwan as part of its territory, it recognises Taiwan is outside its actual territory of control and does not maintain a government in exile for Taiwan Province. However, its CCP National Congress reserves a position for legislators that represent Taiwan, most of whom are of Taiwanese descent but were born in and are residents of mainland China, except for one representative (Lu Li'an) who was born and grew up in Taiwan. The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China is the part of the PRC government that has responsibility over Taiwan-related matters, but it is neither tasked with, nor presented as, a shadow administration for Taiwan. Instead, the ROC government, which actually controls Taiwan Province, is referred to by the PRC as the "Taiwan authorities".[4]

In 1979, the PRC proposed that under a hypothetical unification Taiwan would become a Special Administrative Region rather than a province.[5]

Usage in the People's Republic of China

Despite formal status of a province, the term "Taiwan Province" is now only used in the most formal circumstances such as National People's Congress. In domestic contexts that excludes Hong Kong and Macau, the number of provinces (including autonomous regions, municipalities) is always stated as 31 (Taiwan is not counted).

In official PRC statistics involving Taiwan, "Taiwan Area" is widely used instead, corresponding to the ROC's Free Area of the Republic of China, and is treated together with Special Administrative Regions rather than other provinces.[6] Taiwan Province only includes Taiwan and associated islands such as the Pescadores Islands, but "Taiwan Area" (the same as "Taiwan Area" as used by ROC, a.k.a.) is all area administered by Taipei and includes Fujian islands such as Kinmen, Matsu, as well as (at least in principle) Pratas Island (Tungsha/Dongsha) (part of Cijin District, Kaoshiung; claimed as part of Guangdong Province by the PRC) and Taiping Islands (assigned to Kaoshiung by ROC, and to Sansha and Hainan by PRC). In 2017 Xinhua News Agency issued guidelines mandating no scare quotes for all members of local governments of Taiwan authorities (except Fujian and Lienchiang) and preferring the term "Taiwan Area" over the term "Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China", since the latter does not include the Kinmen and Matsu islands.[7]

Administrative divisions

Maps published by the PRC show Taiwan Province and its subdivisions in accordance with its pre-1949 boundaries. Until recently, the ROC adopted an analogous practice of depicting mainland administrative boundaries in maps the way they were in 1949, to demonstrate that the ROC did not recognise the PRC government, or any boundary changes enacted by them since 1949, as legitimate.

Even before this, the practice of not recognizing any boundary changes made to Taiwan had ended. For example, New Taipei is accepted instead of Taipei County, and the merging of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County is accepted on all maps published by PRC entities. Maps published in PRC do not treat borders between Taiwan Province (Republic of China) and Special Municipalities as provincial borders, but county borders, and often do not mandate a capital for Taiwan at all. The borders between Kinmen and Matsu and rest of Fujian Province are never denoted as provincial borders let alone international.

The official databases of PRC do not show any internal divisions of Taiwan, all of them showing "data not yet available" (this no longer applies to Hong Kong and Macau).

As of 2018, PRC official map service Tianditu treats all six special municipalities as prefecture-level cities, all three provincial cities as county-level cities directly administered by the province, and all fourteen county-administered cities as subdistricts under each individual county's jurisdiction.

Administrative subdivisions (Tianditu & Mapping database)[8]
Administrative divisions of Taiwan
ROC (Units) PRC (Units) Divisions
Special municipality 直轄市 Prefecture-level city 地级市 (6) Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei, Taoyuan
Provincial city 省轄市 County-level city 县级市
(Directly administered 直辖)		 (3) Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung
County 縣 County 县
(Directly administered 直辖)		 (11) Changhua County, Chiayi County, Hsinchu County,
Hualien County, Miaoli County, Nantou County, Penghu County,
Pingtung County, Taitung County, Yilan County, Yunlin County
(Special municipalities) District (直轄市)區 District 区 (158 divisions)
Indigenous district 原住民區
(Provincial city) District (省轄市)區 Subdistrict 街 (12 divisions)
County-administered city 縣轄市 (14 divisions)
Urban township 鎮 Town 镇 (38 divisions)
Rural township 鄉 Township 乡 (146 divisions)
Indigenous township 山地鄉
Urban village 里 Community 社 (5,852 divisions)
Rural village 村 Village 村 (1,850 divisions)
Neighborhoods 鄰 n/a

Politics

Legislative representation

Although Taiwan Province is not under PRC control, thirteen delegates are elected to represent Taiwan Province to the National People's Congress.

The election of these delegates for Taiwan Province is done in accordance with the Decision (from time to time made) of the relevant Session of relevant National People's Congress of the PRC on the number of deputies to the National People's Congress and the election of the deputies.[9] For example, in 2002 that Decision was as follows:[9]

"For the time being, 13 deputies representing Taiwan Province shall be elected from among people of Taiwan origin in the other provinces, the autonomous regions, and the municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army."

Having regard to the relevant Decision, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopts a "Plan for the Consultative Election of Deputies of Taiwan Province to the National People's Congress". The Plan typically provides that "the deputies will be elected in Beijing through consultation from among representatives sent by Taiwan compatriots in these provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and in the Chinese People's Liberation Army."[9]

In the case of the 2002 election, the Standing Committee noted that there were more than 36,000 "Taiwan compatriots" in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and the central Party, government and army institutions. It was decided that 122 representatives would participate in the conference for election through consultation. The number of representatives was allocated on the basis of the geographic distribution of Taiwan compatriots on the mainland and the standing committees of the people's congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government were responsible for making arrangements for the election of the representatives through consultation. The Standing Committee's Plan also provided that the election should be "conducted in a democratic manner".[9]

After the latest election at the 13th National People's Congress, 13 of the Taiwan representatives for the National People's Congress are:[10]

  • Cai Peihui (蔡培輝)
  • Ceng Liqun (曾力群)
  • Chen Jun (陳軍), Amis
  • Chen Yunying (陳雲英), born in Taipei
  • Fu Zhiguan (符之冠)
  • Huang Zhixian (黃志賢), born in Mainland China to a mother from Tainan
  • Liang Zhiqiang (梁志強), born in Mainland China to parents from Miaoli County
  • Liao Haiying (廖海鷹)
  • Lin Qing (林青), born in Taipei
  • Xu Pei (許沛)
  • Zhang Xiaodong (張曉東)
  • Zhang Xiong (張雄)
  • Zou Zhenqiu (鄒振球)

Nomenclatures for the ROC government used by PRC

Since the PRC does not recognise the ROC as legitimate, PRC government and media refers to some ROC government offices and institutions using generic description which does not imply endorsement of the ROC's claim to be a legitimate government of either Taiwan or China. The precise replacements used are not officially designated, so the politically designated names for Taiwan have small variations across different source from within the PRC.

Since 21 July 2021, RTHK in Hong Kong has also imposed the same restrictions on its staff to prevent them from implying Taiwan as an independent state.[11]

For some cases, where the name does not significantly imply sovereignty, the name remains the same, such as for the Mainland Affairs Council,[12] county[13] and mayor.[14]

Government bodies

ROC Government officials

Educational institutions

Events

Demographics

While demographic data for Taiwan Province published by the PRC government respects the census figures published by the ROC government for the territory, the PRC government does not recognise the ethnic classifications of Taiwanese indigenous peoples adopted by the ROC. Instead, the PRC government classifies all Taiwanese indigenous peoples as Gaoshan people, one of the 56 recognized ethnicities of the PRC.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". International Monetary Fund.
  2. ↑ "Constitution of the People's Republic of China". The National People’s Congress. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  3. ↑ Donald S. Zagoria (30 October 2003). Breaking the China-Taiwan Impasse. ABC-CLIO. pp. 68–. ISBN 978-0-313-05755-7. OCLC 1058389524. Retrieved 20 March 2022. The fact is that the People's Republic of China (PRC), while claiming sovereignty over Taiwan, has never ruled Taiwan since the PRC's establishment in 1949.
  4. ↑ "The PRC Government website contains numerous references to "Taiwan authorities"". Gov.cn. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
  5. ↑ Bush, Richard C. (2019-01-07). "8 key things to notice from Xi Jinping's New Year speech on Taiwan". Brookings. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  6. ↑ "截至6月18日24时新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情最新情况 COVID-19 latest situation as of 24:00 June 18 (UTC+8)". nhc.gov.cn. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  7. ↑ 靳, 倩倩. "新华社发布新闻报道禁用词". weixin. 广东工业大学大数据战略研究院. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  8. ↑ "Tianditu". Tianditu. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Plan for the Consultative Election of Deputies of Taiwan Province to the Tenth National People's Congress, 2002 (Government of the PRC website)
  10. ↑ DeAeth, Duncan (26 February 2018). "Only 2 of 13 deputies for Taiwan in China's Nat. People's Congress are from Taiwan". Taiwan News. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  11. ↑ "New rules laid down for RTHK over Taiwan stories". RTHK. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "Taiwan' s mainland affairs authority congratulates Macao' s Chui on reelection". Shanghai Daily. 2015-06-18. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  13. ↑ "Lee Teng-hui's Diaoyu Islands remarks reprimanded in Taiwan_News on Taiwan_ENG.TAIWAN.CN". eng.taiwan.cn.
  14. ↑ 张玲 (2014-06-30). "Headline_Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council PRC". Gwytb.gov.cn. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  15. ↑ Archived 9 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ "Truck crashes into Taiwan leader's office building - People's Daily Online". English.peopledaily.com.cn. 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Taiwan's executive body to be reshuffled - Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  18. ↑ "Taiwan legislative body reviews no-confidence motion". chinadaily.com.cn. 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  19. ↑ "Headline_Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council PRC". Gwytb.gov.cn. 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  20. 1 2 "Taiwan's food safety office opens amid scandals - Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  21. ↑ "Candidates register for Taiwan leader election - Xinhua - English.news.cn". news.xinhuanet.com.
  22. ↑ "Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou re-elected KMT chairman - People's Daily Online". English.peopledaily.com.cn. 2013-07-21. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  23. ↑ "Taiwan's KMT confirms appointments of four vice chairmen - Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2014-09-14. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  24. ↑ "20 killed, 270 injured in Taiwan gas leak explosions". China Daily. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2021. Jiang Yi-huah, the island's executive chief...
  25. ↑ "Taiwan demands apology from Philippines for fisherman's death - Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2013-05-10. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  26. ↑ "Mainland's Taiwan affairs chief highlights long-waited trip - Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  27. ↑ "Taiwan punishes officers after celebrity's Apache chopper visit_News on Taiwan_ENG.TAIWAN.CN". eng.taiwan.cn.
  28. ↑ 张玲 (2014-08-11). "Headline_Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council PRC". Gwytb.gov.cn. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  29. ↑ "Political meeting to promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations: Taiwan experts - Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2014-06-15. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  30. ↑ "A glimpse of Taiwan Normal University in Taipei - People's Daily Online". People's Daily. Xinhua. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  31. ↑ Miao, Tzung-han; Chang, S.C. (20 July 2017). "Refusing to mention ROC? Respect facts, please: MAC". Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
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