Taiwan Province
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![]() Map showing the location of Taiwan Province | |
Coordinates: 23°42′N 121°00′E / 23.7°N 121.0°ECoordinates: 23°42′N 121°00′E / 23.7°N 121.0°E | |
Country | People's Republic of China |
Established from Fujian | 1887 |
Cession to Japan | 17 April 1895 |
Placed under the control of the ROC | 25 October 1945 |
Claimed as part of PRC | 1 October 1949 |
Capital | Taipei |
Largest city | New Taipei |
Divisions | See boundary change |
Government | |
• Secretary | See representation |
• Governor | See representation |
• National People's Congress Representation | 13 deputies |
Area | |
• Total | 35,581 km2 (13,738 sq mi) |
• Rank | 28th |
Population (2018) | |
• Total | 23,580,000 |
• Density | 660/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
Demographics | |
• Ethnic composition | 98% Han Chinese 2% Indigenous group |
ISO 3166 code | CN-TW |
GDP (2018 estimate)[1] | CN¥4.2 trillion |
• per capita | CN¥177,155 |
HDI (2015) | 0.885 (Very high) |
Taiwan Province | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() "Taiwan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 台湾省 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 臺灣省 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Taiwan Province is a nominal administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The constitution of the PRC defines Taiwan as part of its territories[2] despite the fact that the PRC has never controlled any part of it historically. Instead, Taiwan is currently administered by the Republic of China (ROC).
The political status of Taiwan is complex. The PRC considers itself the successor state of the pre-1949 ROC and the sole legitimate government of "China" since its founding on 1 October 1949, and claims Taiwan and the Penghu Islands as part of its territory under the One China principle. However, the PRC has never administered Taiwan: the Taiwan Area, including all of the contemporary Taiwan Province, is currently administered by the government of the Republic of China (ROC), which disputes the PRC's claims.
Overview
The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 near the end of the Chinese Civil War. While by 1950 it had obtained control over most of the territories previously administered by the Republic of China (ROC), it never gained control of an area made up of Taiwan. Instead, Taiwan had been administered by the ROC (which is now commonly known as "Taiwan") since the end of World War II in 1945, continuing through the Chinese Civil War and past the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
While the PRC claims Taiwan as part of its territory, it recognises Taiwan is outside its actual territory of control and does not maintain a government in exile for Taiwan Province. However, its National Congress reserves a position for legislators that represent Taiwan, most of whom are of Taiwanese descent but were born in and are residents of mainland China, except for one representative (Lu Li'an) who was born and grew up in Taiwan. The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China is the part of the PRC government that has responsibility over Taiwan-related matters, but it is neither tasked with, nor presented as, a shadow administration for Taiwan. Instead, the ROC government, which actually controls Taiwan Province, is referred to by the PRC as the "Taiwan authorities".[3]
In 1979, the PRC proposed that under a hypothetical unification Taiwan would become a Special Administrative Region (analogous to Hong Kong and Macau today), rather than a province.[4]
Usage in the People's Republic of China
Despite formal status of a province, the term "Taiwan Province" is now only used in the most formal circumstances such as National People's Congress.[citation needed] In domestic contexts that excludes Hong Kong and Macau, the number of provinces (including autonomous regions, municipalities) is always stated as 31 (Taiwan is not counted).[citation needed]
In official PRC statistics involving Taiwan, "Taiwan Area" is widely used instead, corresponding to the ROC's Free Area of the Republic of China, and is treated together with Special Administrative Regions rather than other provinces.[5] Taiwan Province only includes Taiwan and associated islands such as the Pescadores Islands, but "Taiwan Area" (the same as "Taiwan Area" as used by ROC, a.k.a.) is all area administered by Taipei and includes Fujian islands such as Kinmen, Matsu, as well as (at least in principle) Pratas Island (Tungsha/Dongsha) (part of Cijin District, Kaoshiung; claimed as part of Guangdong Province by the PRC) and Taiping Islands (assigned to Kaoshiung by ROC, and to Sansha and Hainan by PRC).[citation needed] In 2017 Xinhua News Agency issued guidelines mandating no scare quotes for all members of local governments of Taiwan authorities (except Fujian and Lienchiang) and preferring the term "Taiwan Area" over the term "Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China", since the latter does not include the Kinmen and Matsu islands.[6]
Boundary changes since 1949
Maps published by the PRC show Taiwan Province and its subdivisions in accordance with its pre-1949 boundaries. Until recently, the ROC adopted an analogous practice of depicting mainland administrative boundaries in maps the way they were in 1949, to demonstrate that the ROC did not recognise the PRC government - or any boundary changes enacted by them since 1949 - as legitimate.
Even before this, the practice of not recognizing any boundary changes made to Taiwan had ended. For example, New Taipei is accepted instead of Taipei County, and the merging of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County is accepted on all maps published by PRC entities. Maps published in PRC do not treat borders between Taiwan Province (Republic of China) and Special Municipalities as provincial borders, but county borders, and often do not mandate a capital for Taiwan at all. The borders between Kinmen and Matsu and rest of Fujian Province are never denoted as provincial borders let alone international.
The official databases of PRC do not show any internal divisions of Taiwan, all of them showing "data not yet available" (this no longer applies to Hong Kong and Macau).
As of 2018, PRC official map service Tianditu treats all six special municipalities as prefecture-level cities, all three provincial cities as county-level cities directly administered by the province, and all fourteen county-administered cities as subdistricts under each individual county's jurisdiction.
Like the ROC, the PRC claims the disputed Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyutai Islands via Mandarin Chinese, which are administered by Japan, as a part of Taiwan Province.
Administrative divisions of Taiwan | ||||||||
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ROC (Units) | PRC (Units) | Divisions | ||||||
Special municipality 直轄市 | Prefecture-level city 地级市 | (6) Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei, Taoyuan | ||||||
Provincial city 省轄市 | County-level city 县级市 (Directly administered 直辖) |
(3) Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung | ||||||
County 縣 | County 县 (Directly administered 直辖) |
(11) Changhua County, Chiayi County, Hsinchu County, Hualien County, Miaoli County, Nantou County, Penghu County, Pingtung County, Taitung County, Yilan County, Yunlin County | ||||||
(Special municipalities) District (直轄市)區 | District 区 | (158 divisions) | ||||||
Indigenous district 原住民區 | ||||||||
(Provincial city) District (省轄市)區 | Subdistrict 街 | (12 divisions) | ||||||
County-administered city 縣轄市 | (14 divisions) | |||||||
Urban township 鎮 | Town 镇 | (38 divisions) | ||||||
Rural township 鄉 | Township 乡 | (146 divisions) | ||||||
Indigenous township 山地鄉 | ||||||||
Urban village 里 | Community 社 | (5,876 divisions) | ||||||
Rural village 村 | Village 村 | (1,885 divisions) | ||||||
Neighborhoods 鄰 | n/a |
Legislative representation in PRC
Although Taiwan Province is not under PRC control, thirteen delegates are elected to represent Taiwan Province to the National People's Congress.
The election of these delegates for Taiwan Province is done in accordance with the Decision (from time to time made) of the relevant Session of relevant National People's Congress of the PRC on the number of deputies to the National People's Congress and the election of the deputies.[8] For example, in 2002 that Decision was as follows:[8]
"For the time being, 13 deputies representing Taiwan Province shall be elected from among people of Taiwan origin in the other provinces, the autonomous regions, and the municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army."
Having regard to the relevant Decision, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopts a "Plan for the Consultative Election of Deputies of Taiwan Province to the National People's Congress". The Plan typically provides that "the deputies will be elected in Beijing through consultation from among representatives sent by Taiwan compatriots in these provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and in the Chinese People's Liberation Army."[8]
In the case of the 2002 election, the Standing Committee noted that there were more than 36,000 "Taiwan compatriots" in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and the central Party, government and army institutions. It was decided that 122 representatives would participate in the conference for election through consultation. The number of representatives was allocated on the basis of the geographic distribution of Taiwan compatriots on the mainland and the standing committees of the people's congresses of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government were responsible for making arrangements for the election of the representatives through consultation. The Standing Committee's Plan also provided that the election should be "conducted in a democratic manner".[8]
After the latest election at the 13th National People's Congress, 13 of the Taiwan representatives for the National People's Congress are:[9]
- Cai Peihui (蔡培輝)
- Ceng Liqun (曾力群)
- Chen Jun (陳軍), Amis
- Chen Yunying (陳雲英), born in Taipei
- Fu Zhiguan (符之冠)
- Huang Zhixian (黃志賢), born in Mainland China to a mother from Tainan
- Liang Zhiqiang (梁志強), born in Mainland China to parents from Miaoli County
- Liao Haiying (廖海鷹)
- Lin Qing (林青), born in Taipei
- Xu Pei (許沛)
- Zhang Xiaodong (張曉東)
- Zhang Xiong (張雄)
- Zou Zhenqiu (鄒振球)
See also
- Provinces of China
- Taiwan Province, Republic of China
- Free Area of the Republic of China
- Taiwan Affairs Office
- Political status of Taiwan
References
- ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". www.imf.org.
- ^ "Constitution of the People's Republic of China". The National People’s Congress. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
- ^ "The PRC Government website contains numerous references to "Taiwan authorities"". Gov.cn. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
- ^ Bush, Richard C. (2019-01-07). "8 key things to notice from Xi Jinping's New Year speech on Taiwan". Brookings. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
- ^ "截至6月18日24时新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情最新情况 COVID-19 latest situation as of 24:00 June 18 (UTC+8)". nhc.gov.cn. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
- ^ 靳, 倩倩. "新华社发布新闻报道禁用词". weixin. 广东工业大学大数据战略研究院. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- ^ "Tianditu". Tianditu. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d Plan for the Consultative Election of Deputies of Taiwan Province to the Tenth National People's Congress, 2002 (Government of the PRC website)
- ^ DeAeth, Duncan (26 February 2018). "Only 2 of 13 deputies for Taiwan in China's Nat. People's Congress are from Taiwan". Taiwan News. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
External links
- Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (in Chinese)