Taiwan

Official name: Taiwan

Capital city: Taipei

Internet country code: .tw

Flag description: Red with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white sun with 12 trian­gular rays

National flower: Plum blossom (prunus mei)

Geographical description: Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeast­ern coast of China

Total area: 13,887 sq. mi. (35,967 sq. km.)

Climate: Tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon (June to August); cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year

Nationality: noun: Taiwan(s); adjective: Taiwan

Population: 22,858,872 (July 2007 CIA est.)

Ethnic groups: Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, indigenous 2%

Languages spoken: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects

Religions: mixture of Buddhist and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%

(or Formosa), an island in the Pacific Ocean, off the eastern coast of mainland China, from which it is separated by the Formosa Strait, or Taiwan Strait. Area, about 36,000 sq km. Population, 15.6 million (end of 1973).

Together with the Pescadores Islands (P’enghu), Taiwan makes up Taiwan Province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The island extends north to south for 394 km and has a maximum width of 140 km. The coast is mildly indented; the eastern coast is often steep and the western coast slopes gently. The Central Range (or Taiwan Mountains), with elevations to 3,997 m, stretches along the entire island. There is a group of extinct volcanoes in the north, and a coastal plain in the west. Earthquakes are frequent. The island has deposits of anthracite (at Hsinchu), natural gas (at Niushan), petroleum, and gold.

Taiwan has a subtropical climate in the north and a tropical monsoon climate in the south. The January temperature is 15°–20°C and the July temperature is 25°–30°C. Annual precipitation is 1,500–2,500 mm on the plains and more than 5,000 mm in some mountain areas; precipitation is highest in the summer. Typhoons are frequent in August and September. Taiwan has mountain-type rivers with a high water level, which are rich sources of hydroelectric power; they are extensively used for irrigation.

More than two-thirds of the island is covered by forests, growing mainly on red earths and brown forest soils. The forests are distinguished by a great variety of species; there are more than 3,000 species, of which more than 1,500 are endemic. On the lower slopes are evergreen rain forests of screw pine, palm, bamboo, and liana, and the zone above has broad-leaved deciduous and mixed forests of camphor tree, cypress, spruce, fir, tree fern, and trees of the genus Pseudotsuga. Above 3,300 m, forests give way to rhododendron shrubs and high-mountain meadows. The coastal plains are dominated by rice paddies, sweet-potato fields, and sugarcane and pineapple plantations. Mangrove forests grow in some areas along the coast.

Economy. Taiwan has an industrial-agrarian economy. Natural gas is extracted on a small scale, as is anthracite (3.3 million tons). Output of electric power is 19.8 billion kilowatt-hours (1973). The manufacturing industry is based mainly on local agricultural raw materials and imported semifinished products and fuel. The main branches in terms of value of production are the textile industry, radio electronics (mainly assembly), shipbuilding, the food industry (mainly sugar refining; 900,000 tons in 1974), the chemical and petrochemical industry (fertilizer production exceeds 1.4 million tons), petroleum refining (more than 10 million tons), the cement industry (6 million tons of cement), the wood-products industry, steel production (more than 1 million tons), and aluminum production (35,000 tons in 1973). The main industrial centers are Taipei and its outer port, Chilung (Keelung), Kaohsiung, and T’aichung. Logging is also prominent, and Taiwan is the world’s largest producer and exporter of camphor.

About one-quarter of the island is cultivated, mainly the western part. About one-half of the cultivated area is under rice, which is harvested twice a year; the 1973 harvest was 2.3 million tons. Agriculture specializes in the cultivation of sugarcane (7.5 million tons), sweet potato, tea (28,600 tons), and tropical fruits, including pineapples, bananas, and mandarins. The main branch of animal husbandry is swine raising (3.6 million hogs). Fishing is also important.

Historical survey. In antiquity, Taiwan was settled by Kaoshan tribes. The first Chinese military expedition to Taiwan took place in A.D. 230. In the 13th century the island was officially included on the map of the Chinese empire. The first Chinese body of local authority was established there in 1360. Chinese settlers pushed the native Taiwanese into the mountains. Incursions into Taiwan by European colonialists began in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Portuguese arrived on the island in 1590 and named it Ilha Formosa, or Beautiful Island. The Dutch seized the island in 1624. In 1661–62 they were driven out by Chinese patriotic detachments led by Cheng Ch’eng-kung, who made the island into the base for a 22-year struggle against the Manchu, who had conquered mainland China.

The Manchu dynasty established its rule on Taiwan in 1683. In 1686 the island was made a province of the Manchu empire. After the Opium War of 1856–60, Manchu China was forced to open Taiwanese ports to foreign powers. France tried to seize the island in 1884, during a war with the Chinese. Japan acquired Taiwan and the Pescadores by the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895), which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. The population of Taiwan, led by T’ang Ching-sung, put up heroic resistance to the Japanese invaders; in May 1895 the rebels established the “Taiwanese Republic,” which existed for a few months.

On Oct. 25, 1945, after the defeat of Japanese militarism in World War II, Taiwan was returned to China in accordance with the decisions of the Cairo Conference of 1943 and the Potsdam Conference of 1945 and provisions of the instrument of Japanese surrender. After the establishment of the PRC in October 1949, Taiwan became a refuge for the remnants of the Kuomintang group of Chiang Kai-shek and his army, which had been defeated in the civil war by the People’s Liberation Army of China. The so-called National Assembly had been elected on Taiwan as early as 1947, and the legislative yuan (parliament) in 1948; the terms of these bodies were later extended for an indefinite period. The followers of Chiang Kai-shek introduced universal military service on Taiwan and created their own armed forces, which numbered 530,000 in 1975, including 375,000 ground troops in 20 divisions, two brigades, and other units; an air force of 80,000, with more than 400 aircraft; and a navy of 75,000, with 19 destroyers, two submarines, 13 patrol boats, and other vessels; and two divisions of marines. Most of the armament is American.

On Dec. 2, 1954, the government of the USA, which maintained diplomatic, political, and economic relations with the Kuomintang regime on Taiwan, concluded a mutual security treaty with Taiwan, by which it pledged to defend Taiwan and the Pescadores. Until October 1971, Taiwan illegally occupied the seat of the PRC at the United Nations.

In a statement issued in December 1978, concurrently with the American-Chinese communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Chinese People’s Republic, the United States notified Taiwan that diplomatic relations would be discontinued as of Jan. 1, 1979.