Explained: The China-Taiwan Conflict

There is an ongoing dispute between China and Taiwan about Taiwan¡¯s political status.

Taiwan, which is officially known as the Republic of China (ROC) is an island which is separated from the mainland China by the Taiwan strait. Taiwan in located roughly 100 miles from the coast of South-East China. Presently, Taiwan has a population of about 23 million

There has been tensions between these two regions since the 1950s because, after the administration of Taiwan was transferred to the Republic of China from Japan, Taiwan has considered itself to be an independent democracy that is separate from the mainland China. This split of ROC and the People¡¯s Republic of China (PRC) happened as a consequence of the Chinese civil war. The PRC views the island nation as a renegade province and has assured that it will unify it with China as a whole. This unification that China assures differs from the political idea of the island who wants to function independently as it has its own elected democratic government.

Reuters

Initially in the 17th century, Taiwan was completely under the control of China. But, in 1895, China gave up Taiwan to Japan because of China¡¯s defeat in the Sino-Japanese war. But then in 1945, after the defeat of Japan, Taiwan again came under the control of China. The Chinese government advocates that Taiwan was always a part of China owing to its history. But Taiwan rejects this by saying that it was a never a part of the modern-day Chinese state established in 1940 under the Mao rule.

Today, only about 13 countries recognize Taiwan as an independent country. Only these few countries support them because the Chinese exerts diplomatic pressures to make sure that no country recognizes Taiwan as an independent country.

For a brief time, both the countries had pretty good relationship but it worsened over time. Even though there was no conflict, China still advocated for the ¡°One-China Policy¡±. In 2019, during Xi Jinping¡¯s speech, he suggested about China¡¯s long-standing proposal of ¡°One country, two systems¡± which would allow Taiwan to function independently and guaranteed a high degree of autonomy to the island. This framework was never accepted by the Taiwanese public and the massive unrest in Hong Kong against the Chinese influence who was offered the same policy made the Taiwanese government to reject the offer of the policy. China has advocated for the ¡°One-China Policy¡± and has declared that it would take Taiwan by using force if necessary.

Because of the assertion of democracy by the Taiwan through their independence democracy, the pressure by China has increased. Recently there has been many issues like increased military activities like the drills conducted by the Chinese warplanes around the island country. Along with this, because of China¡¯s influence in the trade field, there has been a pressure on Taiwan¡¯s business.

In the past US has supported the ROC but, US wants to improve its relationship with the PRC which puts Taiwan in danger of threats. Also, because of the recent rapid growth of the PRC, US wants to maintain good relationships with China. The US has a long-standing promise that it will come to defend Taiwan if it were to be attacked by China. Also, they still provide Taiwan with the necessary weapons for its defence.

Reuters

The visit of the US speaker Nansi Pelosi to the island country was considered to be extremely dangerous by Beijing. This made the already strained relationship worse. Following her visit, the Chinese drills around the island has increased. Last week, the Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of Taiwan twice. On Sunday the 12th June, 2023 according to the Taiwanese defence ministry, 24 Chinese air force planes have been spotted. This long conflicts between the two conflicts is feared to be resulting in a war between China and the US.

The conflict also does not seem to be ending until one of the sides give up.