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Taiwan
 
I was researching Taiwan and came across the MSN Encarta site.
 
Since it is not blocked by the PRC government I assume that the contents of the long long article on Taiwan is OK for you to read.
 
I have taken a little from several of the 8 pages to provide you with some information.
 
Perhaps this information will enable you to have more interesting discussion on this topic.  At least it should give you more accurate information that some students present.
 
The 8 pages are each divided into sections that help you to find information on a particular topic.
 
Naturally like the sections that I have presented here, some of the site is about Taiwan politics, but you can find lots of other interesting things to read there about the people and the environment.
 
The first section is in the right hand column.
 
 As time goes by I will try to provide information on other topics, or maybe just links to articles on those topics and you can go look them up yourselves.
 

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Page 4
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577607_4/Taiwan.html

In an effort to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), an international body that promotes and enforces the provisions of trade laws and regulations, Taiwan’s government began liberalizing the economy in the 1990s by deregulating banking, finance, the stock market, investment, and trade.
 
These policies contributed to rapid economic growth, and by the 1990s Taiwan could boast one of the world’s highest standards of living. Taiwan became known as one of Asia’s “Four Tigers,” along with Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. Taiwan’s membership in the WTO was approved in late 2001.


 

 
 

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Page 6
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577607_6/Taiwan.html

 
The Kuomintang (KMT) was founded as Taiwan’s ruling party in 1949. The KMT approach to government was based on Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People, which are nationalism, democracy, and social well-being. Until Taiwan lifted martial law in 1987, parties other than the ruling KMT had little political influence.
 
In 1989 political parties besides the KMT were legalized and allowed to function.
 
Starting in the late 1970s an informal organization known as the Outsiders Party attempted to present unified platforms and nominated candidates for elections. In 1986 some members of the Outsiders Party established the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which became the first influential opposition party in Taiwan. Although originally founded as a pro-independence party, the DPP has since softened its stance on complete independence for Taiwan. In contrast, the KMT favors closer political and economic ties with mainland China.
 
 In the News


China's top legislature enacts historic law for peace
By Bao Daozu (China Daily) 2005-03-15
 
"The security alliance between Japan and the United States is a bilateral matter between those two countries. Yet we are concerned in China because it is related to the question of Taiwan," Wen said.
 
 
Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, met here Friday with Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan.
 
At their meeting, Hu spoke highly of Lien's unremitting efforts in and contributions to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.
Both leaders are in the Peruvian capital Lima to attend the 16th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
 
 
(China Daily) 2008-11-24
 
Hu noted that the current cross-Strait ties had registered sound development, and the four agreements signed by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits during its recent visit to the island with the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation on direct shipping and flights, postal services and food safety, had brought substantial benefits for compatriots living on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.
(China Daily) 2008-11-24
 
President Hu Jintao praised US President George W. Bush for his active efforts to develop the Sino-US relations since he took office and hoped he would continue to play an active role in promoting bilateral ties.
 
"Reviewing the development of the Sino-US relations over the past years, the most important experience we gained is that we should proceed from a strategic and long-term perspective, take a firm hold of the main course of the Sino-US constructive and cooperative relations, increase mutual trust, enhance cooperation and deal with disagreements and sensitive issues properly, in particular, the Taiwan question," Hu said. The Taiwan question concerns China's key interests and remains the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-US relations, Hu said, noting that the one-China principle can never be changed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Page 1
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761577607

The government that administers Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China. Leaders of the government moved to the island from the Chinese mainland in 1949, when Communist armies gained control of the mainland and established the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
 
The government on Taiwan recognizes the mainland city of Nanjing (spelled Nanking in Taiwan) as its official capital, and designates Taiwan’s largest city of Taipei as its temporary capital.
 
The PRC does not recognize the government on Taiwan and considers the island a renegade province. Taiwan recognizes that the Communist government rules the Chinese mainland while the republican government rules Taiwan.
 

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In 2003 Taiwan’s exports totaled  U.S.$150.6 billion; imports cost U.S.$127.2 billion. Exports consistently exceed imports, giving Taiwan one of the world’s largest trade surpluses.
 

Although Taiwan is a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a trade organization of the Pacific Rim, Taiwan’s president was denied participation in APEC’s highest ranking meetings due to opposition from mainland China, which is also a member.

 
 

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Page 7
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577607_7/Taiwan.html

With mainland China falling to the Communists, Chiang moved the KMT government from Nanjing to Taipei on December 8, 1949. Communist plans to invade Taiwan were subsequently frustrated by the United States, which in 1950 sent naval forces to defend the island.

For the remainder of the 1950s, despite sporadic hostilities between Taiwan and the mainland, the United States Seventh Fleet shielded the KMT government from a Communist invasion.
 
In March 1954 Chiang Kai-shek was reelected president of the Republic of China (as his Taiwan government continued to call itself). Later that year the KMT and the United States signed a mutual-defense treaty, by which the United States agreed conditionally to take punitive action against the Chinese mainland if the Communist regime attacked Taiwan.
 
 

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Page 8
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577607_8/Taiwan.html

In the early 1970s Taiwan’s international situation changed radically. The decision by the United States government to seek contact with the Communist government in Beijing, on the mainland, led to Taiwan’s expulsion from the United Nations (UN) in 1971, and China’s seat was given to the Communist government. Many nations transferred their diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing.

In March 2000 presidential elections, voters in Taiwan elected Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Chen Shui-bian president, ending more than 50 years of rule by the KMT. China reacted warily to the election of a member of the DPP, which was founded as a pro-independence party.

In March 2005 the legislature of the People’s Republic of China passed a law authorizing the use of military force against Taiwan if its government moved toward a formal declaration of independence.

In 2008 the KMT made a strong political comeback. In the January parliamentary elections the KMT delivered a crushing defeat to the DPP, winning 81 of the 113 seats in the legislature. Then in March the KMT’s presidential candidate, Ma Ying-jeou, won 58 percent of the vote. A Harvard-educated former mayor of Taipei, Ma had campaigned for closer economic ties with Beijing but refused to discuss political reunification.