The Story:
There has been a good deal of tough talk in recent days between leaders of the People’s Republic of China, informally known as “mainland China,” on the one hand and those of China’s breakaway offshore province, Taiwan, which calls itself the Republic of China on the other.
Background:
With a military victory in 1949 the Communist Party took over mainland China. That Party’s opponents, known as the Nationalists, retreated across the Formosa Strait, using the Taiwanese city of Taipai as their new capital. They have continued to claim to be the government of all of China. But for most international organizations, Taiwan is allowed to participate if at all (in the Olympics, for example) only as a non-governmental entity known as “Chinese Taipai.”
The policy of the United States is to recognize the People’s Republic as the government of China and to recognize Taiwan as part of China. On the other hand, the US also has worked to discourage and deter the Beijing government from any takeover of the breakaway province by force. Over the decades a wary co-existence has developed across the Strait.
The Thing to Know:
What is worrisome to some, though, is the prospect that the Taipai government may soon declare that it is neither China nor any part of China, it is an altogether separate nation. Such a declaration of “separatism” might be something that the government of the Mainland will not want to tolerate. People are concerned about a forceful reaction.
