Introduction

Taiwan is also known as the Republic of China (ROC), which was established in 1911 when the Ching Dynasty was overturned by the revolutionary party led by Dr Sun Yat-sen. It was the first democratic republic in Asia.

Before long, after the establishment of the Republic, the Chinese Civil War broke out in the late 1920s between the government represented by the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) and the communists. Although the civil war was interrupted by the Sino-Japanese War which was later to become part of World War II, it was resumed after Japan was defeated. In 1949 the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong won the Civil War against the Nationalist Government represented by Chiang Kai Shek and established the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Nationalist Government had to move across the Taiwan Strait to the island of Taiwan. Thus since 1949, the jurisdiction of the ROC extends only to the main island of Taiwan and the smaller islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, as well as quite a number of other very small islands. The total number of these islands is 76. Because of the ROC's current geographical location and jurisdictional reach, the term Taiwan is more frequently used to refer to it.

Taiwan has a population of 23 million living in a relatively small area of approximately 36,000 square kilometres.