Is Taiwan China? Is it a part of China? Or is it a sovereign country?
Well, the answer to all of these questions is "YES."
But wait, how can a country be independent, yet be a part of another country?
The answer, is, well, not very simple at all.
Historically, the island of Taiwan has always been a part of the Chinese territory. Unfortunately, being a small island surrounded by many superpowers, such as Japan, China and Korea, it was quite susceptible to invasions. Taiwan was invaded by the Japanese Empire in 1897, and remained under Japanese control until after World War II ended in 1945.
Meanwhile, in China, a Civil War was brewing. After many small quarrels and changes of leaderships, the Chinese political climate became polarized, as a nationalist and a Soviet-backed communist party emerged, and a Civil War began between the two groups in 1927. The Japanese sensed the war as an opportunity and invaded parts of Northern China in 1931. The two Chinese parties failed to unite in order to confront their common enemy, and the war raged on, now between three different parties.
Below we can see the extent of the Japanese Empire in 1945 and its influence on China, Taiwan, and Korea.
This war raged on for nearly two decades, and well into World War II. In 1945, the Japanese decided to bomb Pearl Harbor, prompting the Americans to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan was forced to surrender the war, and surrender all land they'd ever acquired during warfare, and this included Northern China, the Korean Peninsula (which led to the North/South Korea divide), and Taiwan. The nationalists and communists were still fighting in Mainland China, but in 1949 the communists signed a decisive victory, forcing the nationalists to escape to Taiwan, and establish the Republic of China there, essentially ending the war, although no Peace Treaty was ever signed.
For a more in-depth look at the history leading to the creation of Taiwan, I invite you to watch WonderWhy's Youtube video, which I found it to be an excellent resource for my research.
Both the nationalists in Taipei and the communists in Beijing now saw themselves as the legitimate China. Taiwan kept the historic Chinese name, the "Republic of China," while the newly created government in Beijing went as the "People's Republic of China."
Originally, Taiwan was internationally recognized as the legitimate government of China. Both nations were developing independently of one another, but due to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) vastly superior global influence, public opinion started to shift, and the PRC was soon officially recognized as the legitimate China.
In 1992, the two sides came to a consensus via the "One China Policy," which states that there is only one China. Both the PRC and Taiwan did not want to relinquish their claims to their territory, and as such, both claimed to be the legitimate China. As such, China claims Taiwan, and Taiwan claims all of China, which is actually quite funny when you consider that China is 100 times the size of Taiwan.
I even found a map detailing all the area that Taiwan "has to claim" under this "One-China Policy."
Despite the "One-China Policy," both Taiwan and China operate as sovereign states. Taiwan has its own distinct culture, its own federal and democratically-elected government (parliament pictured below), and even its own passport.
Despite Taiwan's autonomy, China kind of forces it to not be internationally recognized. The government in Beijing has threatened to cut off trade with any country that recognizes Taiwan's sovereignty, which is why Taiwan has such little international recognition. This said, most countries maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan without officially recognizing it. Canada, for example, is home to the Taipei International Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, which basically acts as an embassy.
Daily life in Taiwan is almost entirely unaffected by the PRC's claim on its territory, and, in fact, I believe it's more advantageous to be Taiwanese than Chinese. The Taiwanese passport is actually much stronger than the Chinese passport, and Taiwan is a lot easier to visit for nationals of most countries. Citizens of most developed countries, including Canada, the U.S., and Western Europe, are able to enter Taiwan without a VISA, but definitely do need a VISA to enter China. Taiwanese citizens benefit from a far superior quality of life than their Chinese counterparts, and, well, Taiwan is a free and democratic state, whereas China is still quite censored and communist.
I personally view Taiwan as a country, and this view was enhanced after visiting. Taiwanese people are independent and proud of their nationality, and the country has developed its own thriving and independent country. In fact, after meeting many other travellers from all over the world while in Taipei, I noticed that everyone basically sees Taiwan as a country, just their governments aren't really allowed to. Taiwan is unique, but special, and definitely worth a visit in order to discover more of what it has to offer!
-Daniele
