During the 1970s the mainland government took over China’s seat at the United Nations and was recognized by the United States. China refuses to establish formal diplomatic relations with countries that recognize the independence of ‘Taiwan Province’, and by 2002 only twenty-seven countries maintained such ties with the ‘Republic of China’ on Taiwan. But most others kept informal links with it, because it had become a major trading nation. By the early 1990s it was the world’s tenth-biggest exporter, with huge foreign-exchange reserves and an annual GDP growth rate of over 7%. The rate has since slowed, but its per capita GDP is now higher than that of many European Union members.