ABSTRACT
Contrary to claims by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who trace Taiwan’s unity with the mainland to ancient times (The Taiwan Question and Reunification of China 1993), the island’s formal relationship with China began in the late seventeenth century, and ended two centuries later. The island returned to the Republic of China’s (ROC) sovereignty in 1945, and four years later became the focal point of conflict between the Chinese communists and the governing Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT). Having been defeated in the civil war in 1949, the KMT moved the ROC’s government and capital to Taiwan. Since then, the island has acted as an alternative China that is capitalist and more democratic than its arch rival, the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
