Taiwan WATCH 36

First inhabited by Austronesian people, Taiwan became home to Han immigrants beginning in the late Ming Dynasty (17th century). In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan, which then governed Taiwan for 50 years. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang, KMT) control after World War II. With the communist victory in the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Nationalist-controlled Republic of China government and 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and continued to claim to be the legitimate government for mainland China and Taiwan, based on a 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Until 1987, however, the Nationalist Government ruled Taiwan under a civil war martial law declaration dating to 1948. Beginning in the 1970s, Nationalist authorities gradually began to incorporate the native population into the governing structure beyond the local level. The democratization process expanded rapidly in the 1980s, leading to the then-illegal founding of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan s first opposition party, in 1986 and the lifting of martial law the following year. Taiwan held legislative elections in 1992, the first in over 40 years, and its first direct presidential election in 1996. In the 2000 presidential elections, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power with the KMT loss to the DPP and afterwards experienced two additional democratic transfers of power in 2008 and 2016. Throughout this period, the island prospered and turned into one of East Asia's economic "Tigers," becoming a major investor in main…

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 : 35,980 sq km land: 32,260 sq km water: 3,720 sq km note: includes the Pescadores, Matsu, and Kinmen islands

small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, asbestos, arable land

earthquakes; typhoons volcanism: Kueishantao Island (401 m), east of Taiwan, is the only historically active volcano, but it has not erupted in centuries

total: 23,600,776 (2025 est.) male: 11,596,835 female: 12,003,941

Han Chinese (including Holo, who compose approximately 70% of Taiwan's population, Hakka, and other groups originating in mainland China) more than 95%, indigenous Malayo-Polynesian peoples 2.3% note 1: there are 16 officially recognized indigenous groups: Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Hla'alua, Kanakaravu, Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Seediq, Thao, Truku, Tsou, and Yami; Amis, Paiwan, and Atayal are the largest and account for roughly 70% of the indigenous population note 2: although not definitive, the majority of current genetic, archeological, and linguistic data support the theory that Taiwan is the ultimate source for the spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia; the expansion (ca. 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1200) took place via the Philippines and eastern Indonesia and reached Fiji and Tonga by about 900 B.C.; from there voyagers spread across the rest of the Pacific islands over the next two millennia

Mandarin (official), Min Nan, Hakka dialects, approximately 16 indigenous languages major-language sample(s): 世界概況 不可缺少的基本消息來源 (Mandarin) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Buddhist 35.3%, Taoist 33.2%, Christian 3.9%, folk religion (includes Confucian) approximately 10%, none or unspecified 18.2% (2005 est.)

air pollution; water pollution from industrial emissions, raw sewage; contamination of drinking water supplies; trade in endangered species; low-level radioactive waste disposal

semi-presidential republic

name: Taipei geographic coordinates: 25 02 N, 121 31 E time difference: UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) etymology: the name means "Northern Taiwan," from the Chinese words tai (a short form of Taiwan) and bei (north), reflecting the city's position in the far north of the island

chief of state: President LAI Ching-te (since 20 May 2024) head of government: Premier CHO Jung-tai (President of the Executive Yuan) (since 20 May 2024) cabinet: Executive Yuan; ministers appointed by president on recommendation of premier election/appointment process: president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by simple-majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the premier most recent election date: 13 January 2024 election results: 2024: LAI Ching-te elected president; percent of vote - LAI Ching-te (DPP) 40.1%, HOU Yu-ih (KMT) 33.5%, KO Wen-je (TPP) 26.5%) 2020: TSAI Ing-wen reelected president; percent of vote - TSAI Ing-wen (DPP) 57.1%, HAN Kuo-yu (KMT) 38.6%, James SOONG (PFP) 4.3% expected date of next election: 2028

legislature name: Legislative Yuan legislative structure: unicameral number of seats: 113 (directly elected) electoral system: plurality/majority scope of elections: full renewal term in office: 4 years most recent election date: 13 January 2024 parties elected and seats per party: Kuomintang (KMT) 52, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 51, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) 8, independent 2 percentage of women in chamber: 41.6% expected date of next election: January 2028

$1.743 trillion (2023 est.) $1.664 trillion (2022 est.) $1.512 trillion (2021 est.)

$32,300 (2023 est.) $32,600 (2022 est.) $32,900 (2021 est.) note: data are in current dollars

2.2% (2024 est.) 2.5% (2023 est.) 2.9% (2022 est.) note: annual % change based on consumer prices

China 20%, USA 17%, Hong Kong 13%, Singapore 9%, Japan 7% (2023) note: top five export partners based on percentage share of exports

China 21%, Japan 13%, USA 11%, S. Korea 9%, Australia 5% (2023) note: top five import partners based on percentage share of imports

Taiwan Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps), Air Force, Information Communication and Electronic Force (ICEF) Ocean Affairs Council: Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Ministry of Interior: National Police (2025) note: the CGA is a law enforcement organization with homeland security functions during peacetime and national defense missions during wartime

2.4% of GDP (2024 est.) 2.5% of GDP (2023 est.) 2.1% of GDP (2022 est.) 2.1% of GDP (2021 est.) 2.1% of GDP (2020 est.)