Politics of Taiwan

Abstract

This polity is known today by its citizens and a small number of states as the Republic of China; by Beijing as Taiwan, Province of China; by the World Bank as the “Customs Territory of Taiwan, Kinmen, and Matsu”; and by most of the world as simply “Taiwan.” The people who inhabit the main and surrounding islands of Taiwan have been subject to internal and external political, economic, and strategic forces that have resulted in processes giving rise to the “Taiwan Miracle.” Since the end of Japanese colonialism in 1945 and the Nationalist government’s retreat to Taipei in 1949, Taiwan has transitioned from single-party rule to liberal democracy and impoverished state to globalization powerhouse, and it remains one of the most potentially explosive sovereignty disputes and diplomatic complexities faced by the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Few cases highlight the intertwined causalities of economic, political, foreign relations, and social development than Taiwan, and perhaps even fewer are as well documented. While politics on Taiwan continues in a fairly linear progressive path toward democratic deepening, the ebb and flow of Cross-Strait and US-Taiwan relations continue to play a major role in Taiwan’s domestic politics and international relationships. Taipei-Beijing relations have regressed from détente under former president Ma Ying-jeou (2009–2016) to heightened animosity since Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration in 2016 due to her rejection of the so-called 1992 Consensus and Beijing’s increasing militarization of the Taiwan Strait. Conversely, US-Taiwan relations since 2016 have grown closer, more expansive, and more public.