President Lee Teng-hui, known as Taiwan's "father of democracy", led constitutional changes towards a more democratic political layout, which eventually led to the election of the island's first non-KMT president, Chen Shui-bian, in Relations between China and Taiwan started improving in the s. China put forward a formula, known as "one country, two systems", under which Taiwan would be given significant autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification.
This system was established in Hong Kong to be used as something of a showcase to entice Taiwanese people back to the mainland. Taiwan rejected the offer, but it did relax rules on visits to and investment in China. In , it also proclaimed the war with the People's Republic of China on the mainland to be over. There were also limited talks between the two sides' unofficial representatives, though Beijing's insistence that Taiwan's Republic of China ROC government is illegitimate meant government-to-government meetings couldn't happen.
And in , when Taiwan elected Chen Shui-bian as president, Beijing was alarmed. Mr Chen had openly backed "independence". A year after Mr Chen was re-elected in , China passed a so-called anti-secession law, stating China's right to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan if it tried to "secede" from China.
Mr Chen was succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou, who, after taking office in , sought to improve relations with China through economic agreements. Eight years later, in , Taiwan's current president Tsai Ing-wen was elected.
Despite the lack of formal ties, the US has pledged to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons and has stressed any attack by China would cause "grave concern". Throughout , China stepped up pressure on international companies, forcing them to list Taiwan as a part of China on their websites and threatening to block them for doing business in China if they failed to comply.
Ms Tsai won a second term in By that time Hong Kong had seen months of unrest, with protesters demonstrating against the mainland's increasing influence - a development many in Taiwan were watching closely. Later that year, China's implementation of a national security law in Hong Kong was widely seen as yet another sign that Beijing was becoming more assertive in the region. At the same time, the US has been intensifying its outreach to Taiwan and reassuring Taipei of its continued support.
Last September, Washington sent the highest-level state department official in decades to visit the island. Beijing strongly criticised the meeting, warning the US "not to send any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' elements to avoid severe damage to China-US relations".
During the controversial visit, China conducted a live-fire military exercise in the waterway that separates the island from the mainland. This year, President Joe Biden's administration has said its commitment to Taiwan is "rock solid". In the first few days of Mr Biden's presidency, Taiwan reported a "large incursion" by Chinese warplanes over two days. Then on 12 April, the Taiwanese government said China flew the largest number of military jets into its air defence zone for a year.
The TRA was passed by Congress with a veto-proof supermajority. The first three of those points have held steady, from Carter through Trump, yet the sale of military equipment began to slow after a deal in in which George H. Bush sold F jet fighters to Taipei. Bush, and Barack Obama were largely deferential. They were reluctant to approve large or regular arms deals to Taiwan, out of fear of angering Beijing, preferring to bundle medium-size deals that were only approved when they wanted to send a message that they were displeased with China.
That is changing under Trump, who is engaged in a trade war with China and is heading what is easily the most pro-Taiwan White House since the TRA went into effect.
The State Department and Pentagon are stacked with China hawks and friends of Taiwan, and there is an obvious push for normalization of arms packages, both big and small. As Taiwan prepares for presidential and legislative elections in January—amid concerns over an intense Chinese influence campaign—expect members of Congress and Trump administration officials who see Tsai as a safe pair of hands and view the China-friendly Kuomintang warily to pursue a relationship with Taiwan that is more like one between official diplomatic allies.
Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. Popular Latest. The Atlantic Crossword. Sign In Subscribe. More in India and Indonesia have favorable than unfavorable assessments, though sizable portions do not offer an opinion.
How different age groups in Taiwan view China stands contrary to patterns elsewhere in Asia. While those ages 50 and older are more likely to see China favorably, the opposite is true in Australia, Indonesia and Japan. In these other Asian-Pacific environs, older adults are less likely to see China favorably.
In Taiwan, this difference among young people is 43 percentage points. Seventy years after the end of the Chinese Civil War, about two-thirds of adults in Taiwan identify as just Taiwanese.
The question asks respondents whether they consider themselves Taiwanese, Chinese or both. These findings are consistent with other polls showing that people in Taiwan increasingly identify only as Taiwanese as opposed to both Taiwanese and Chinese or solely Chinese. Adults in Taiwan across all age groups are likely to see themselves as Taiwanese.
At least six-in-ten in each group claim a Taiwanese identity, while no more than about a third hold a mixed or solely Chinese identity. Still, those ages 18 to 29 are more than 20 percentage points more likely than those 50 and older to see themselves as Taiwanese. They are also less than half as likely than the oldest age group to see themselves as both Taiwanese and Chinese.
National identity is additionally split across political affiliation. Those who feel closest to the DPP are most likely to see themselves as Taiwanese.
Roughly two-thirds of the politically unaffiliated — those who do not feel close to any party — are also most likely to identify as just Taiwanese, while about three-in-ten consider themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese.
Still, about a third of this group identifies as only Taiwanese. No more than about one-in-ten in each political group see themselves as only Chinese. It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions. Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. Pew Research Center now uses as the last birth year for Millennials in our work.
President Michael Dimock explains why. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.
It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.
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