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Taiwan
Further Link - www.unpo.org
Country profile: Taiwan
Taiwan is the island which has for all practical purposes been independent for half a century but which China regards as a renegade province that must be re-united with the mainland.
Legally, most nations - and the UN - acknowledge the position of the Chinese government that Taiwan is a province of China, and as a result Taiwan has formal diplomatic relations with only 25 countries and no seat at the UN.
OVERVIEW
China insists that no state can have formal ties with both mainland China and Taiwan. But despite its diplomatic isolation, Taiwan has become one of Asia's big traders.
The Chinese nationalist government of President Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan ahead of the advance of Communists under Mao Zedong in 1949. The government-in-exile established Taipei as its capital and for decades hoped to reclaim control over the mainland.
The leadership of mainland China has reserved the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has missiles aimed at the island. The military threat is partly offset by the United States' cooperation with Taipei, and by the military capacity of Taiwan itself - one of the world's big arms purchasers.
Taiwan is considered to have achieved an economic miracle, becoming one of the world's top producers of computer technology. In the early 1990s it made the transition from an authoritarian one-party state to a democracy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 285915.stm
Published: 2004/12/11 13:01:33 GMT
© BBC MMV
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Further Link - www.unpo.org