News highlights
According to Taipei, China military began new Taiwan drills, and it tracked vessels and aircraft.
Key takeaways
- Taiwanese foreign minister accused China of using air and sea drills encircling the island to prepare for an invasion and to change the status quo in the Asia-Pacific region.
- In addition, Taiwan accused China of conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and economic coercion to weaken public morale in Taiwan.
Is the situation getting worse?
- Relations between Taiwan and China appear to have deteriorated sharply following the US’s high officials’ visit.
- China’s military exercises focused on six danger zones around Taiwan, three overlapping the island’s territorial waters.
Why does China have a problem with the US House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan?
- The presence of a senior American official in Taiwan would indicate some kind of US support for Taiwan’s independence.
- According to China, the visits also undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity over Taiwan.
The History of China-Taiwan issues.
- The first known settlers in Taiwan were Austronesian tribal people, who are thought to have come from modern-day southern China.
- The island seems to have first appeared in Chinese records in AD239 when an emperor sent an expeditionary force to explore the area – a fact Beijing uses to back up its territorial claim.
- After becoming a Dutch colony (1624-1661), Taiwan was administered by China’s Qing dynasty from 1683 to 1895.
- From the 17th century, significant numbers of migrants started arriving from China.
- Their descendants are now by far the largest demographic group on the island.
- In 1895, Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Qing government had to cede Taiwan to Japan.
- After World War Two, Japan surrendered and abandoned control of the territory it had taken from China.
- The Republic of China (ROC) – one of the victors in the war – began ruling Taiwan with the consent of its allies, the US and the UK.
- But in the next few years, a civil war broke out in China, and the then-leader Chiang Kai-shek’s troops were defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communist army.
- Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949 along with his Kuomintang (KMT) government.
- This group, referred to as Mainland Chinese, dominated Taiwan’s politics for many years, though they only account for 14% of the population.
- Chiang established a government in exile in Taiwan, which he led for the next 25 years.
- Chiang’s son, Chiang Ching-Kuo, allowed more democratisation after coming to power.
- He faced resistance from local people resentful of authoritarian rule and was under pressure from a growing democracy movement.
- President Lee Teng-hui, known as Taiwan’s “father of democracy”, led constitutional changes, eventually making way for the election of the island’s first non-KMT (Kuomintang ) president, Chen Shui-bian, in 2000.
- China has never recognised the existence of Taiwan as an independent political entity, arguing that it was always a Chinese province.
- Taiwan says that the modern Chinese state was only formed after the revolution of 1911, and it was not a part of that state or of the People’s Republic of China that was established after the communist revolution.
What are the “One China Principle” and “One China Policy”?
- The People’s Republic of China (PRC) follows the One China Principle.
- As per this, there is only one China, and Taiwan is a part of China.
- The One China policy is a crucial cornerstone of Sino-US relations.
- It is the diplomatic acknowledgement of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government exists.
- Under the policy, the US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than the island of Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province.
About Taiwan
- Taiwan is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
- Capital –Taipei
- Neighboring countries:
- Northwest – People’s Republic of China
- Northeast – Japan
- South – Philippines
- Maritime Borders:
- North and northeast – The East China Sea
- East –The Pacific Ocean
Pic Source: BBC
Content Source: The Hindu