In News:

• Pelosi, the top US lawmaker and second in line to the White House, arrived in Taiwan’s capital Taipei.
• This visit took place despite warnings from Beijing that such a trip would be disastrous for US-China ties and threats that it would stop the visit by force.

What’s in Today’s Article:

• China-Taiwan Dispute – geographical location of Taiwan, background, civil war, timeline of dispute etc.
• News Summary

In Focus: China-Taiwan Dispute

Geographical location of Taiwan:

• 
• Taiwan is located north of the Philippines and the South China Sea.
• It is about 180 km off the south-eastern coast of China. It is separated from the mainland by the Taiwan Strait.

Background

• The island seems to have first appeared in Chinese records in AD239, when an emperor sent an expeditionary force to explore the area.
  • This evidence is used by Beijing to back its territorial claim.
• After a relatively brief spell as a Dutch colony (1624-1661), Taiwan was administered by China's Qing dynasty from 1683 to 1895.
• In 1895, Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Qing government had to cede Taiwan to Japan.
  • After World War Two, Japan surrendered and relinquished control of territory.

Civil War

• When Japan surrendered, The Chinese Nationalist Party (also known as the Kuomintang-KMT) began ruling Taiwan with the consent of its allies, the US and UK.
  • Chiang Kai-shek was the ruler of this party.
• However, almost immediately following Japan’s surrender, the Chinese Civil War broke out between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
• Chiang and the remnants of his Kuomintang government fled to Taiwan in 1949.

China-Taiwan Timeline (1949 onwards)

Disagreement and confusion about Taiwan

• China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.
  • China has repeatedly insisted that Taiwan should be called “Chinese Taipei”, in efforts to prevent international recognition of Taiwan as a country.
• But Taiwan's leaders argue that it is a sovereign state. Taiwan continues to participate in international events and dialogues separately.
  • It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces.

Who recognises Taiwan?

• Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China (ROC) government held China's seat on the United Nations Security Council.
  • It was recognised by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.
• However, in 1971 the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced out.
• Since then, the number of countries that recognise the ROC government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15.
• India does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Like most countries, it maintains commercial ties with Taiwan.

News Summary

• US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived Taiwan on an official visit. She is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.

Key Highlights:

• Both sides amassed military hardware in the region
  • More than 20 Chinese military planes flew into Taiwan's air defence zone ahead of this visit.
  • Several Chinese warships have also sailed near the unofficial dividing line between China and Taiwan.
  • On the other hand, four US warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, were positioned in waters east of Taiwan.
    • Although, US Navy refers this as routine deployments.
• Chinese stand on this visit
• China has said that this visit is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques.
• As per China, this visit sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for Taiwan independence.
• Hence, it seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
• Stand of US
  • US has reiterated that there was no change in US policy on Taiwan.
  • US officials argued that Pelosi is not the first American lawmaker, nor her delegation the first US legislative team to visit Taipei.