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KMT

KMT

:KMT redirects here. For the scientific usage of KMT, see Kinetic theory. The Chinese Nationalist Party (; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguo Guomindang), commonly known as the Kuomintang (KMT), is a conservative political party currently active in the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. Together with the People First Party, it forms what is known as the pan-blue coalition, which leans towards Chinese reunification whereas the pan-green coalition leans towards Taiwan independence. Organized shortly after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty in China, the KMT fought the Beiyang warlords and the Communist Party of China for control of the country before its retreat to Taiwan in 1949. There, it controlled the government under a one-party authoritarian state until reforms in the late 1970s through the 1990s loosened its grip on power. The ROC was once referred to synonymously with the KMT and known simply as "Nationalist China" after its ruling party. The KMT in Taiwan became the world's richest political party, with assets once valued to be around US$ 2.6-10 billion, though these assets have begun to be liquidated since 2000.

Support

Support for the KMT on Taiwan encompasses a wide range of groups. KMT support tends to be higher in northern Taiwan, where it draws its backing primarily from business interests, Mainlanders, Hakka, and aboriginals. Business interests and persons, especially in Taipei, tend to agree with the KMT's pro-business ideology, who seek, among other issues, to better relations with the mainland. In rural areas, support for the KMT comes largely as a result of patronage and social networks, in which supporters of the KMT view as working for the people. Critics tend to view this as a form of corruption that benefits only a select group of people. KMT also has strong support in the labor sector because of the many labor benefits and insurances implemented when it was in power. KMT traditionally has strong cooperations with labor unions too. aboriginals Opponents of the KMT include strong supporters of Taiwan independence. There also is opposition due to an image of KMT both as a Mainlander's and urban party out of touch with rural life. In addition, many oppose the KMT on the basis of its authoritarian past, such as the 228 Incident and the reign of White Terror. The party is a member of the International Democrat Union.

Early years

The Kuomintang was originally founded in Guangdong Province on August 25, 1912 from a collection of several revolutionary groups, including the Revolutionary Alliance, as a moderate democratic socialist party and Anarchists active in the Student movement. The party traces its roots to the Revive China Society, which was founded in 1895 and merged with several other anti-monarchist societies as the Revolutionary Alliance in 1905. Sun Yat-sen, who had just stepped down as provisional president of the Republic of China, was chosen as its overall leader under the title of premier (總理), and Huang Xing was chosen as Sun's deputy. However, the most influencial member of the party was the third ranking Sung Chiao-jen, who mobilized mass support from gentry and merchants for the KMT in winning the 1912 National Assembly election, on a platform of promoting constitutional parliamentary democracy. Though the party had an overwhelming majority in the first National Assembly, President Yuan Shikai started ignoring the parliamentary body in making presidential decisions, counter to the Constitution, and assassinated its parliamentary leader Sung Chiao-jen in Shanghai in 1913. Members of the KMT led by Sun Yat-sen staged the Second Revolution in July 1913, a poorly planned and ill-supported armed rising to overthrow Yuan, and failed. Yuan dissolved the KMT in November (whose members had largely fled into exile in Japan) and dismissed the parliament early in 1914. Second Revolution While exiled in Japan in 1914, Sun established the Chinese Revolutionary Party, but many of his old revolutionary comrades, including Huang Xing, Wang Jingwei, and Chen Jiongming, refused to join him or support his efforts in inciting armed uprising against the Beijing government, and Sun was largely sidelined within the Republican movement during this period. Sun returned to China in 1917 to establish a rival government at Guangzhou, but was soon forced out of office and exiled to Shanghai. There, with renewed support, he resurrected the KMT on October 10, 1919, but under the name of the Chinese Kuomintang (the old party had simply been called the Kuomintang). In 1920, Sun and the KMT were restored in Guangdong. In 1923, the KMT and its government accepted aid from the Soviet Union after being denied recognition by the western powers. Soviet advisers -- the most prominent of whom was an agent of the Comintern, Mikhail Borodin -- began to arrive in China in 1923 to aid in the reorganization and consolidation of the KMT along the lines of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, establishing a Leninist party structure that lasted into the 1990s. The Communist Party of China (CPC) was under Comintern instructions to cooperate with the KMT, and its members were encouraged to join while maintaining their separate party identities, forming the First United Front between the two parties. Soviet advisers also helped the Nationalists set up a political institute to train propagandists in mass mobilization techniques, and in 1923 Chiang Kai-shek, one of Sun's lieutenants from the Tongmenghui days, was sent to Moscow for several months' military and political study. At the first party congress in 1924, which included non-KMT delegates such as members of the CPC, they adopted Sun's political theory, which included the Three Principles of the People - nationalism, democracy, and the livelihood of the people.

Civil and World War

Following the death of Sun Yat-sen, General Chiang Kai-shek emerged as the KMT leader and launched the Northern Expedition in 1926 against the warlord government in Beijing. He halted briefly in Shanghai in 1927 to purge the Communists who had been allied with the KMT, which sparked the Chinese Civil War. Kuomintang forces took Beijing in 1928 and received widespread diplomatic recognition in the same year. The capital was moved from Beijing to Nanjing, the original captial of the Ming dynasty. Thus began the period of "political tutelage," whereby the party was to control the government while instructing the people on how to participate in a democratic system. After several military campaigns, the Communists were forced (1934-35) to withdraw from their bases in southern and central China. The Kuomintang continued to attack the Communists, even during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). After the defeat of the Japanese, full-scale civil war between the Communists and Nationalists resumed. Chiang Kai-shek ordered his forces to the cities to defend industrialists and financiers, allowing the Communists to move freely through the countryside. Much of the war from 1946-1949 was financed from Taiwan's sugar and rice reserves acquired by the KMT. By the end of 1949 the Communists controlled almost all of mainland China, as the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan with 2 million refugees along with a hoard of China's national treasures. Some leftists stayed and broke away from the main Kuomintang to found the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang, which still exists (as of 2005) as one of the eight minor registered parties in the People's Republic of China.

KMT in Taiwan

In 1950 Chiang took office in Taipei under the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion which halted democratic processes until the mainland could be recovered from the communists. During this time, as a result of the 228 Incident, Taiwanese people had to endure what is called the "White Terror", a KMT-led political repression. The various government organs previously in Nanjing were re-established in Taipei as the KMT-controlled government actively claimed sovereignty over all China. The Republic of China retained China's seat in the United Nations until 1971. In the 1970s, the Kuomintang began to allow for "supplemental elections" on Taiwan to fill the seats of the aging representatives. Although opposition parties were not permitted, Tangwai (or, "outside the party") representatives were tolerated. In the 1980s, the Kuomintang focused on transforming itself from a party of a single-party system to one of many in a multi-party democracy, and on "Taiwanizing" itself. With the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986, the Kuomintang found itself competing against the DPP in Taiwanese elections. Lee Teng-Hui, the ROC President and the leader of the Kuomintang during the 1990s, angered the People's Republic of China and a significant number of voters on Taiwan with his advocacy of "special state-to-state relations" with the PRC, which many associated with Taiwan independence. In order to maintain influence, the Kuomintang was allegedly involved in vote-buying and black gold, which decreased its support among the Taiwanese middle class. black gold, was seen as a symbol of the party's wealth and dominance.]] As the ruling party on Taiwan, the KMT amassed a vast business empire of banks, investment companies, petrochemical firms, and television and radio stations. Its wealth in the year 2000 was at an estimated US $6.5 billion, making it the richest political party in the world. Although this war chest appeared to help the KMT throughout until the mid-1990s, it led to accusations of black gold corruption, and after 2000, the KMT's financial holdings appeared to be far more of a liability than an asset. After 2000, the KMT claims to have divested itself of a large quantity of assets, but because the transactions were not disclosed and because there is no transparency in the spending of campaign funds (no reporting is required), these claims are difficult to verify. There were accusations in the 2004 presidential election that the KMT retained assets that were illegally acquired, and in any case, the KMT retains large properties throughout Taiwan. According to political opponents, most of the KMT's properties used to be governmental public assets belonging to the Japanese ruling government and were not supposed to be transfered to non-governmental entities after the second world war. Currently, there is a law proposed by the DPP in the Legislative Yuan to recover illegally acquired party assets and return them to the government; however, since the pan-Blue alliance, the KMT and its smaller partner PFP, control the legislature, it is very unlikely to be passed. The KMT also acknowledged that part of its assets were acquired through extra-legal means and thus promised to "retro-endow" them to the government. However, the quantity of the assets which should be classified as illegal are still under heated debate; DPP, the current ruling party, claimed that there is much more that the KMT has yet to acknowledge. Also, the KMT actively sold assets under its title in order to quench its recent financial difficulties, which the DPP argues is illegal. Current KMT Chairman Ma Ying-Jiu's position is that the KMT will sell off some of its properties at below market rates rather than return them to the government and that the details of these transactions will not be publicly disclosed. The Kuomintang faced a split in 1994 that led to the formation of the Chinese New Party, alleged to be a result of Lee's "corruptive ruling style". The New Party has, since the purging of Lee, largely reintegrated into KMT. A much more serious split in the party occurred as a result of the 2000 Presidential election. Upset at the choice of Lien Chan as the party's presidential nominee, former party Secretary-General James Soong launched an independent bid, which resulted in the expulsion of Soong and his supporters and the formation of the People's First Party (PFP). The KMT candidate placed third behind Soong in the elections. After the election, Lee's strong relationship with the opponent became apparent. In order to prevent defections to the PFP, Lien moved the party away from Lee's pro-independence policies and became more favorable toward Chinese reunification. This shift led to Lee's expulsion from the party and the formation of the Taiwan Solidarity Union. With the party's voters defecting to both the PFP and TSU, the KMT did poorly in the December 2001 legislative elections and lost its position as the largest party in the Legislative Yuan. More recently, the party did well in the 2002 mayoral and council election with Ma Ying-jeou, its candidate for Taipei mayor, winning reelection by a landslide and its candidate for Kaohsiung mayor narrowly losing but doing surprisingly well. Since 2002, the KMT and PFP have coordinated electoral strategies. In 2004, the KMT and PFP ran a joint presidential ticket, with Lien running for president and Soong running for vice-president. In December 2003, however, the KMT chairman and presidential candidate, Lien Chan, initiated what appeared to some to be a major shift in the party's position on the linked questions of Chinese reunification and Taiwanese independence. Speaking to foreign journalists, Lien said that while the KMT was opposed to "immediate independence," it did not wish to be classed as "pro-reunificationist" either. At the same time, Wang Jin-pyng, speaker of the Legislative Yuan and the Pan-Blue Coalition's campaign manager in the 2004 presidential election, said that the party no longer opposed Taiwan's "eventual independence." This statement was later clarified as meaning that the KMT opposes any immediate decision on unification and independence and would like to have this issue resolved by future generations. The KMT's position on the cross-strait relationship was redefined as hoping to remain in the current neither-independent-nor-united situation. There has been a recent warming of relations between the pan-blue coalition and the PRC, with prominent members of both the KMT and PFP in active discussions with officials on the Mainland. In February 2004, it appeared that KMT had opened a campaign office for the Lien-Soong ticket in Shanghai targeting Taiwanese businessmen. However, after an adverse reaction in Taiwan, the KMT quickly declared that the office was opened without official knowledge or authorization. In addition, the PRC issued a statement forbidding open campaigning in the Mainland and formally stated that it had no preference as to which candidate won and cared only about the positions of the winning candidate. The loss of the presidential election of 2004 to DPP President Chen Shui-bian by merely over 30000 votes was a bitter disappointment to party members, leading to a few rallies for a few weeks protesting alleged electoral fraud and the "odd circumstances" of the shooting of President Chen. However, the fortunes of the party were greatly improved when the KMT did well in the legislative elections held in December 2004 by maintaining its support in southern Taiwan achieving a majority for the pan-blue coalition. Soon after the election, there appeared to be a falling out with the KMT's junior partner with the coalition the People's First Party and talk of a merger seemed to have ended. This split appeared to widen in early 2005, as the leader of the PFP, James Soong appeared to be reconciling with President Chen Shui-Bian and the Democratic Progressive Party. However, Soong appeared to split with Chen Shui-Bian after Chen attended a protest against the Anti-Secession Law passed by the People's Republic of China. In 2005, Party chairman Lien Chan announced that he was to leave his office. The two leading contenders for the position include Ma Ying-jeou and Wang Jin-pyng. On April 5 2005, Mayor of Taipei Ma Ying-jeou said he wishes to lead the opposition Kuomintang with Wang Jin-pyng, if he were elected its chairman in an exclusive interview with CTV talk show host Sisy Chen. On March 28 2005, thirty members of the Kuomintang (KMT), led by KMT vice chairman P. K. Chiang, arrived in mainland China, marking the first official visit by the KMT to the mainland since it was defeated by communist forces in 1949 (although KMT members include Chiang had made individual visits in the past). The delegates began their itinerary by paying homage to the revolutionary martyrs of the Tenth Uprising at Huanghuagang. They subsequently flew to the former ROC capital of Nanjing to commemorate Sun Yat-sen. During the trip KMT signed a 10-points agreement with the CPC. The opponents regarded this visit as the prelude of the third KMT-CPC cooperation. Weeks afterwards, in May, Chairman Lien Chan visited the mainland and met with Hu Jintao. No agreements were signed because Chen Shui-bian's government threatened to prosecute the KMT delegation for violating laws prohibiting citizens from collaborating with Communists. On 16 July 2005 Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou was elected as KMT chairman in the first contested leadership in Kuomintang's 93-year history. Some 54 percent of the party's 1.04 million members casted their ballots. Ma Ying-jeou garnered 72.4 percent of vote share, or 375,056 votes, against Wang Jin-pyng's 27.6 percent, or 143,268 votes. After failing to convince Wang to stay on as a vice chairman, Ma named, as vice chairpersons, holdovers Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄), Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), and Lin Cheng-chi (林澄枝), as well as long-time party administrator and strategist John Kuan (關中), and the vice chairpersons were approved by handcount of party delegates. The KMT won a decisive victory in the 3-in-1 local elections of December 2005, replacing the DPP as the largest party at the local level. This was seen as a major victory for the party ahead of legislative elections in 2007, and especially for Ma Ying-jeou ahead of the 2008 presidential elections.

List of leaders of the Kuomintang

President: # Sung Chiao-jen (1912-1913) Premier: # Sun Yat-sen (1913-1915, 1918-1925) # Hu Hanmin (1925-1927) Chairman of Central Executive Committee # Hu Hanmin (1927-1931) # Chiang Kai-shek (1931-1938) Director-General: # Chiang Kai-shek (1938-1975) Chairman: # Chiang Ching-kuo (1975-1988) # Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000) # Lien Chan (2000-2005) # Ma Ying-jeou (2005-)

See also


- History of the Republic of China
- Politics of Taiwan
- List of political parties in Taiwan

Further reading


- Chris Taylor, "Taiwan's Seismic shift," Asian Wall Street Journal, February 4 2004 (not available online)

External link


- [http://www.kmt.org.tw/ Kuomintang official web site] ([http://www.kmt.org.tw/Aboutus/English/Aboutus-12.html English]) Category:Conservative parties Category:International Democrat Union Category:Nationalist parties Category:Political parties in Taiwan (Republic of China) Category:Republic of China Category:Single-party system parties zh-min-nan:Tiong-kok Kok-bîn-tóng ko:중국국민당 ja:中国国民党

Kinetic theory

Kinetic theory, or kinetic-molecular theory, or collision theory attempts to explain the macroscopic properties of gases by considering their composition at a molecular level.

Postulates

The fundamental aspects of kinetic theory are given by several postulates:
- Gases are composed of molecules in constant, random motion; the moving particles constantly collide with each other and with the walls of the container containing the gas
- The collisions between gas molecules are elastic
- The collisions of gas particles with the walls of the container holding them are perfectly elastic as well
- The total volume of the gas molecules is negligible compared to the volume of the entire container. This is equivalent to stating that the distance separating the gas particles is relatively large compared to their size.
- The interactions between molecules are negligible
- The gas consists of very small particles, each of which has a mass
- The gas particles are constantly moving rapidly in a random fashion
- The average kinetic energy of a gas particle depends only on the temperature at which the gas particle is present
- The gas particles exert no force on one another The above postulates accurately describe the behavior of ideal gases. Real gases approach ideality under conditions of low density and high temperature.

Pressure

Pressure is explained by kinetic theory as arising from the force exerted by colliding gas molecules onto the walls of the container. Consider a gas of N molecules, each of mass m, enclosed in a cuboidal container of volume V. When a gas molecule collides with the wall of the container perpendicular to the x coordinate axis and bounces off in the opposite direction with the same speed (an elastic collision), then the momentum lost by the particle and gained by the wall is :2mv_x where vx is the x-component of the initial velocity of the particle. Since force is the rate of change of momentum and the particle under consideration impacts with the wall once every 2l/vx time units (where l is the length of the container), the force due to this particle is :mv_x \cdot v_x \over l and the total force acting on the wall is :m\sum_j v_^2 \over l where the summation is over all the gas molecules in the container. Since the particles are moving randomly in all directions, and since for each particle : v^2 = v_x^2 + v_y^2 + v_z^2 the expression for the total force becomes :m\sum_j v_j^2 \over 3l This can be written as :Nmv_^2 \over 3l where vrms is the root mean square velocity of the gas. Therefore, pressure, the force per unit area, equals :Nmv_^2 \over 3Al where A is the area of the wall. Thus, as cross-sectional area multiplied by length is equal to volume, we have the following expression for the pressure :P = where V is the volume. Also, as Nm is the total mass of the gas, and mass divided by volume is density : P = \rho\ v_^2 where ρ is the density of the gas. This result is interesting and significant, because it relates pressure, a macroscopic property, to the average (translational) kinetic energy per molecule (1/2mvrms2), which is a microscopic property. Note that the product of pressure and volume is simply two thirds of the total kinetic energy.

Temperature

The above equation tells us that the product of pressure and volume per mole is proportional to the average molecular kinetic energy. Further, the ideal gas equation tells us that this product is proportional to the absolute temperature. Putting the two together, we arrive at one important result of the kinetic theory: average molecular kinetic energy is proportional to the absolute temperature. The constant of proportionality is 3/2 times Boltzmann's constant, which is the ratio of the gas constant R to Avogadro's number (independent of the gas). This result is related to the equipartition theorem. Thus the kinetic energy per kelvin is:
- per mole: 12.47 J
- per molecule: 20.7 yJ = 129 μeV At standard temperature (273.15 K), we get:
- per mole: 3406 J
- per molecule: 5.65 zJ = 35.2 meV Examples:
- hydrogen (molecular mass = 2): 1703 kJ/kg
- nitrogen (molecular mass = 28): 122 kJ/kg
- oxygen (molecular mass = 32): 106 kJ/kg

RMS speeds of molecules

From the kinetic energy formula it can be shown that :v_^2 = 24,940 T / molecular mass with v in m/s and T in kelvins. For standard temperature, root mean square speeds are:
- thermal neutrons 2610 m/s
- hydrogen 1846 m/s
- nitrogen 493 m/s
- oxygen 461 m/s The most probable speeds are 81.6% of these (e.g. for thermal neutrons 2131 m/s), and the mean speeds 92.1%, see also distribution of speeds.

See also


- Gas laws
- Heat
- Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
- Thermodynamics

External links


- [http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/tiss/stretton/chem1/gases9.html Introduction] to the kinetic molecular theory of gases, from The Upper Canada District School Board
- [http://comp.uark.edu/~jgeabana/mol_dyn/ Java animation] illustrating the kinetic theory from University of Arkansas
- [http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/kinetic/ktcon.html Flowchart] linking together kinetic theory concepts, from HyperPhysics
- [http://www.ewellcastle.co.uk/science/pages/kinetics.html Interactive Java Applets] allowing high school students to experiment and discover how various factors affect rates of chemical reactions. Category:Gases Category:Thermodynamics

Tongyong Pinyin

Tongyong Pinyin () is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since late 2000, announced by the Mandarin Promotion Council of the Ministry of Education. Like all previous ROC official romanizations, it is based on the official Chinese dialect of Standard Mandarin. Around 80 percent of the Tongyong Pinyin syllables are spelled identically to those of Mainland China's Hanyu Pinyin.

History

Tongyong Pinyin is the successor of MPS II. Created by Yu Bor-chuan (余伯泉, Yu Boquan) in 1998, Tongyong Pinyin has been modified several times since.

Features

Spelling

Notable features of Tongyong Pinyin are:
- Hanyu zh becomes jh (Wade-Giles uses ch).
- Hanyu x and q are completely unused in Tongyong Pinyin, they become s and c (Wade-Giles uses hs and ch) before front vowel (i and e), but sy and cy before yu (to avoid confusion with su and cu).
- The Hanyu i not represented in Zhuyin -- the empty rime (空韻) -- are shown as ih (partially like Wade-Giles), i.e, those in Hanyu as zi (資), ci (慈), si (思), zhi (知), chi (吃), shi (詩), and ri (日) all end in -ih in Tongyong.
- eng becomes ong after b-, p-, m-, f-, w- (蹦、碰、孟、奉、瓮)
- wen (溫) becomes wun
- iong becomes yong, e.g. syong instead of pinyin xiong (兇)
- Ü used in Pinyin is replaced by yu.
- Unlike Wade-Giles and Hanyu, iu and ui (e.g., liu (六) and gui (鬼)) contractions can be optionally written out in full as iou and uei. However, according to the Ministry of the Interior, in romanizations of names of places that is at township-level or below township-level, the letters must be written in full.
- Although the original scheme did not specify capitalization of the first letter of every syllable, Taipei has done so with almost every street sign in the city, resulting in a CamelCase-like effect. For example, Beitou is written as BeiTou. The CamelCase practice started with Hanyu Pinyin very unofficially with the raise of the Internet, and had rarely made out into the printed world until now.

Punctuation


- Tongyong syllables in the same word (except placenames) are to be separated by hyphens, like Wade-Giles. Except that, in Ministry of the Interior's romanizations, placenames have no spaces between the syllables.
- Tongyong uses tone marks like Zhuyin, and not like Hanyu, i.e., Tongyong has no mark for the first tone, but a dot for the neutral tone (which is optional on computers).
- The optional syllable disambiguity mark is apostrophe (like Hanyu), e.g., ji'nan vs. jin'an. The mark may also, as in the Ministry of the Interior placenames, be hyphen.

Adoption and Criticism

Some have criticised Tongyong Pinyin for matching more than one traditional bopomofo initial to the letters c and s. Others have pointed out that every single Mandarin syllable can be expressed in equal or fewer keystrokes in Hanyu Pinyin. Nonetheless, the largest difficulty may lie in that Hanyu Pinyin is both the standard of the PRC, and the internationally accepted ISO standard for the romanization of Mandarin Chinese. For those who have studied Mandarin outside Taiwan and for those who are accustomed to doing business in China, Hanyu Pinyin may be quite indispensable. On the other hand, Tongyong Pinyin supporters have argued that their system avoids q and x, letters that are confusing to many foreigners as to their proper pronuncation. Even though in early October 2000, the Mandarin Commission of the Ministry of Education proposed to use Tongyong Pinyin as the national standard, Education Minister Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) submitted a draft of the Taiwanese Romanization in late October to the Executive Yuan, but it was rejected. The adoption of Tongyong Pinyin has also resulted in political controversy. Much of the controversy centered on issues of national identity with proponents of Chinese unification favoring the hanyu pinyin system which is used on the People's Republic of China and proponents of Taiwan, the Republic of China favoring the use of tongyong pinyin. In August 2002, the ROC government adopted Tongyong Pinyin but through an administrative order which local governments can override. Localities with governments controlled by the Kuomintang, most notably Taipei City, have overridden the order and are using Hanyu pinyin for local signs in accordance with the wishes of various groups representing foreign businesses. This creates the odd situation in which adjacent signs have different pinyin based on which government controls them. In part because of the lack of agreement of which pinyin to use, the goal of the Ministry of Education to replace bopomofo with pinyin to teach pronunciation in elementary school remains stalled as of 2003. Tongyong Pinyin also has a Taiwanese phonetic symbol version (台語音標版) which lacks the letter f but adds the letter v (for 万).

External links


- [http://research.chtsai.org/papers/pinyin-comparison.html Linguistic analysis]
- [http://www.romanization.com/tongyong/differences.html Hanyu-Tongyong comparison chart]
- [http://abc.iis.sinica.edu.tw/pinyinfangan.htm Formal documents] (in Traditional Chinese): from Academia Sinica
- [http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%BA%E7%81%A3%E5%9C%B0%E5%90%8D%E8%AD%AF%E5%AF%AB%E5%8E%9F%E5%89%87 Toponomastic Rules] (in Traditional Chinese): from Wikisource
- http://www.romanization.com/ Category:Chinese language romanization Category:Mandarin terms ja:通用ピン音 zh-tw:通用拼音

Political party

A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. Some parties are not permitted to or choose not to seek power through elections and so may turn to other forms of pressure, sometimes terrorism. Parties often espouse a certain ideology, but may also represent a coalition among disparate interests. In parliamentary systems of government, most political parties have an elected leader who, if his or her party is elected, becomes head of government. In presidential systems, especially those with full separation of powers, there may not be a formal leader. In certain electoral situations, more common in elections using proportional representation than First Past the Post, a government may be formed of more than one party, called a coalition government. Partisanship is the tendency of supporters of political parties to subscribe to or at least support their party's views and policies in contrast to those of other parties. Differentiation is essential to most political parties: they must be different at least in some ways to other parties to compete in politics and win elections. Extreme partisanship is sometimes referred to as partisan warfare.

Nonpartisan, Single-party, two-party, and multi-party governments

In a nonpartisan system, no official political parties exist, or the law does not permit political parties. In nonpartisan elections, each candidate for office runs on her or his own merits rather than as a member of a political party. In nonpartisan legislatures, there are no typically formal party alignments within the legislature; even if there are caucuses for specific issues. Despite being nonpartisan, most members have consistent and identifiable voting patterns. Historians have frequently interpreted Federalist No. 10 to imply that the Founding Fathers of the United States intended the government to be nonpartisan. The administration of George Washington and the first few sessions of the US Congress were nonpartisan. The unicameral legislature of Nebraska is the only nonpartisan state government body in the United States. Many city and county governments are nonpartisan. Unless there are legal prohibitions against political parties, factions within nonpartisan governments generally evolve into political parties. In single-party systems, only one political party is legally allowed to hold effective power. Although minor parties may sometimes be allowed, they are legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party. This party may not always be, however, identical to the government, although sometimes positions within the party may in fact be more important than positions within the government. In Dominant-party systems, opposition parties are allowed, and there may be even a deeply established democratic tradition, but other parties are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. Sometimes, political, social and economic circumstances, and public opinion are the reason for others parties' failure. Sometimes, typically in countries with less of an established democratic tradition, it is possible the dominant party will remain in power by using patronage and sometimes by voting fraud. In the latter case, the definition between Dominant and single-party system becomes rather blurred. Examples of dominant party systems include the People's Action Party in Singapore and the African National Congress in South Africa. Also, one party dominant systems existed in Mexico with the Institutional Revolutionary Party until the 1990's, and in the southern United States with the Democratic Party from the 1880s until the 1970s. Two-party systems are states such as the United States and Jamaica in which there are two political parties dominant to such an extent that electoral success under the banner of any other party is extremely difficult. One right wing coalition party and one left wing coalition party is the most common ideological breakdown in such a system but in two-party states political parties are traditionally catch all parties which are ideologically broad and inclusive. The relationship between the voting system used and the two-party system was described by Maurice Duverger and is known as Duverger's Law. Duverger's Law Multi-party systems are systems in which there are multiple parties. In nations such as Canada and the United Kingdom, there may be two strong parties, with a third party that is electorally successful. The party may frequently come in second place in elections and pose a threat to the other two parties, but has still never formally held government. In some rare cases, such as in Finland, the nation may have an active three-party system, in which all three parties routinely hold top office. It is very rare for a country to have more than three parties who are all equally successful, and all have an equal chance of independently forming government. More commonly, in cases where there are numerous parties, no one party often has a chance of gaining power, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. This has been an emerging trend in the politics of the Republic of Ireland.

Parties and directions

Political parties are often considered on a political spectrum. One typical spectrum has the Left associated with radical or progressive policies and the Right with conservative or traditional policies. Other analyses include other dimensions such as the political parties' acceptance of parliamentary democracy as opposed to authoritarian or totalitarian attitudes, and economic policies, the Left favoring social-democracy, socialism or communism, while the Right tends to favor laissez-faire economics or Fascism. Centrist parties often adopt a collection of policies that defy easy placing on the political spectrum. Many parties will have (formal or informal) factions within them that have differing views on policy direction.

Colors and emblems for parties

:Main article: see political colour Generally speaking, over the world, political parties associate themselves with colors, primarily for identification, especially for voter recognition during elections. Red usually signifies leftist, communist or socialist parties. Conservative and Christian democratic parties generally use blue or black. Recently in the United States, this trend has been reversed. Pink sometimes signifies socialist. Yellow is often used for liberalism. Green is the color for green parties and Islamist parties. Orange is sometimes a color of nationalism, such as in The Netherlands, or is a color of reform such as in Ukraine. In the past, Purple was considered the color of royalty, but is rarely used in modern-day political parties. Brown is generally associated with fascist or neofascist parties, going back to the Nazi Party's brownshirt security guards. Color associations are useful for mnemonics when voter illiteracy is significant. Another case where they are used is when it is not desirable to make rigorous links to parties, particularly when coalitions and alliances are formed between political parties and other organizations, for example: Red Tory, "Purple" (Red-Blue) alliances, Red-Green Alliances, Blue-Green Alliances, Pan-green coalitions, and Pan-blue coalitions. The emblem of socialist parties is often a red rose held in a fist. Communist parties often use a hammer, a sickle, or both.

International organizations of political parties

During the 19th and 20th century, many national political parties organized themselves into international organizations along similar policy lines. Notable examples are the International Workingmen's Association (also called the First International), the Socialist International (also called the Second International), the Communist International, (also called the Third International), and the Fourth International, as organizations of Working class parties, or the Liberal International (yellow), and the International Democrat Union (blue). Worldwide green parties have recently established the Global Greens. The Socialist International, the Liberal International, and the International Democrat Union are all based in London.

See also


- List of politics-related topics
- List of political parties
- Party class
- Political faction (both pre- and within a modern party)

External links


- [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms.php U.S. Party Platforms from 1840-2004 at The American Presidency Project: UC Santa Barbara]
- [http://www.electionworld.org/parties.htm Political parties around the world]
- [http://www.politicalresources.net/ Political resources on the net]
- [http://www.broadleft.org/ Leftist political parties of the world] Category:Elections Category:Political parties ko:정당 ja:政党 simple:Political party

Taiwan

Taiwan (; Taiwanese: Tâi-oân) is an island in East Asia located off the coast of mainland China, south of Japan and north of the Philippines. "Taiwan" is commonly used to refer to the territories currently governed by the Republic of China (ROC), which include the Taiwan island group (including Lanyu (Orchid Island) and Green Island), the Pescadores in the Taiwan Strait, Quemoy and Matsu off the coast of mainland Fujian, and Taiping and the Pratas in the South China Sea. The current political status of Taiwan in contested by the People's Republic of China, which claims it as one of its provinces. The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa (Portuguese sailors called it Ilha Formosa, which means "beautiful island"), is bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea and the Luzon Strait, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea. The island is 394 kilometers (245 miles) long and 144 kilometers (89 miles) wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation.

Political status

Main article: Political status of Taiwan In 1895, Taiwan, including the Pescadores, became a Japanese colony, a concession by the Qing Empire after it lost the First Sino-Japanese War. After Japan's defeat at the end of World War II in 1945, Allied Command ordered Japanese troops in Taiwan to surrender to the Republic of China (ROC) and ROC became the de facto ruler of Taiwan ever since. In 1949, upon losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party of China, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) of the Republic of China retreated from mainland China and moved the ROC government to Taipei, Taiwan's largest city, while continuing to claim sovereignty over all of China and Mongolia. On the mainland, the Communists established the People's Republic of China (PRC), claiming to be the sole representative of China including Taiwan and portraying the ROC government on Taiwan as an illegitimate entity. Taiwan has been transformed into a major industrialized economy and is touted as one of the East Asian Tigers. Meanwhile, political reforms beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the early 1990s liberalized the Republic of China from an authoritarian one-party state into a multiparty democracy. In 2000, the KMT's monopoly on power ended after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the ROC presidency. Besides groups seeking the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland, there is a Taiwan independence movement that seeks to establish a Taiwanese republic. The competing claims over the future of Taiwan have made and continue to make Taiwan's political status a contentious issue. The numbers who answer favorably toward any particular resolution often changes depending on the particular wording of the question, illustrating the complexity of public opinion on the topic. The political environment is complicated by the potential for military conflict to result should overt actions toward independence be taken. It is the policy of the PRC to reserve the right to "use force to ensure reunification" if peaceful reunification fails, and there are substantial military installations on the Fujian coast. In return, the US has provided military training and arms sales to the ROC. However, the United States has repeatedly stated that it does not condone the Taiwan independence movement, and furthermore that it does not support unilateral changes in the current status quo by either the ROC or PRC leadership. The KMT supports the status quo for the indefinite future with the ultimate goal of reunificaiton because unification under the current political climate in PRC is unacceptable to its members and the public. The DPP, which supports an independent Taiwan, supports the status quo because the risk of declaring independence and provoking mainland China is unacceptable to its members. However, both parties support taking active steps to advocate ROC's participation in international organizations. Currently there are 25 states -- mostly small, developing nations in Africa and Central America -- that have diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, although many countries such as the United States and United Kingdom have de-facto embassies in the ROC. The United States, for example, maintains unofficial diplomatic relations through the American Institute in Taiwan. ROC's de facto embassies are referred to as "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices" (TECRO), with branch offices, the equivalent of consulates, called "Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices" (TECO). Each year since 1992, the government of the Republic of China petitions the UN for entry but has so far been unsuccessful because most countries, including the United States, do not wish to engage in the issue of ROC's political status for fears of souring diplomatic ties with PRC, although both the US and Japan publicly support ROC's bid into the World Health Organization as an observer. Without official support from the international community, it is unclear how the pro-independence contingent's vision of Taiwanese independence can be achieved. Facing tremendous pressure from PRC, the ROC uses the name Chinese Taipei in the Olympics and other international events, usually of which PRC is also a party.

History

Main article: History of Taiwan History of Taiwan

Prehistory and early settlement

Evidence of human settlement in Taiwan dates back 30,000 years, although the first inhabitants of Taiwan may have been genetically distinct from any groups currently on the island. About 4,000 years ago, ancestors of current Taiwanese aborigines settled Taiwan. These aborigines are genetically related to Malay and Polynesians, and linguists classify their language as Austronesian. Records indicate that Han Chinese settled in Penghu since the 1100s, but it was not until later that people other than aborigines permanently settled in the main island of Taiwan. Records from ancient China indicate that Han Chinese might have known of the existence of the main island of Taiwan since the Three Kingdoms period (third century), having assigned offshore islands in the vicinity names like Greater and Minor Liuqiu (Ryukyu), though none of these names have been definitively matched to the main island of Taiwan. It has been claimed but not verified that the Ming Dynasty admiral Zheng He visited Taiwan between 1403 and 1424. In the 15th century, a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and dubbed it "Ilha Formosa", which means "Beautiful Island." The Portuguese made no attempt to colonize Taiwan. In 1624, the Dutch established a commercial base on Taiwan and began to import workers from Fujian and Penghu as laborers, many of whom settled. The Dutch made Taiwan a colony with its colonial capital at Tainan.

Koxinga and imperial Chinese rule

Ming naval and troop forces defeated the Dutch from the island in 1662, subsequently expelling the Dutch government and military. They were led by Lord Cheng Cheng-Kung (also known as Lord Koxinga), a pirate turned Ming navy commander. Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, Cheng retreated to Taiwan as a self-styled Ming loyalist, and established the Kingdom of Tungning (1662–1683). Cheng establishing his capital at Tainan and he and his heirs continued to launch raids on the east coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty, in an attempt to recover the mainland. In 1683, the Qing dynasty defeated the Cheng holdout, and formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province. Following the defeat of Cheng's grandson to an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang, Cheng's followers were expatriated to the farthest reaches of the Qing empire, leaving approximately 7,000 Han on Taiwan. The Qing government wrestled with its Taiwan policy to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, which led to a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights. Illegal immigrants from Fujian continued to enter Taiwan as renters of the large plots of aboriginal lands under contracts that usually involved marriage, while the border between taxpaying lands and "savage" lands migrated east, with some aborigines 'Sinicizing' while others retreated into the mountains. During this time, there were a number of conflicts involving Han Chinese from different regions of China, and between Han Chinese and aborigines. The bulk of Taiwan's population today, the "native" Taiwanese, claim descent from these migrants. In 1887, the Qing government of China made Taiwan a province by itself, the 20th in the country, with capital at Taipei. The move was accompanied by a modernization drive that included the building of the first railroad and the beginning of a postal service in Taiwan.

Japanese colonial rule

Taiwanese Following its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Qing China ceded Taiwan and Penghu (the Pescadores) to Japan in perpetuity, on terms dictated by the latter. Inhabitants wishing to remain Qing subjects were given a 2-year grace period to sell their property and move to the mainland. On May 25, 1895, the Republic of Taiwan was formed with a dynastic name of "Forever Qing" and with capital at Tainan, to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital and quelled this resistance on October 21, 1895. As opposed to elsewhere in Asia, Japan attempted to use Taiwan as a model colony and was instrumental in the industrialization of the island; they extended the railroads that had just sprung up in late Qing rule, built a sanitation system and a public school system, among other things. Still, the Chinese-speaking residents and aborigines were classified as second and third class citizens. Large scale violence continued in the first decade of rule. Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the Japanese Empire. By 1945, just before Japan lost World War II, desperate plans were in place to incorporate popular representation of Taiwan into the Japanese Diet to make Taiwan an integral part of Japan proper. Japan's rule of Taiwan came to an end with its defeat in World War II. Its signing of the Instrument of Surrender on August 15, 1945, signaled that Taiwan was to be returned to China, one of the Allied objectives from the wartime declarations. On October 25, 1945, ROC troops, representing the Allied Command, accepted the formal surrender of Japanese military forces in Taihoku (today: Taipei). However, due to the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communists, the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty between Japan and the Allies failed to name the recipient of Taiwan's sovereignty.

Republic of China era

San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1946. There is little evidence that the people of Taiwan actually elected these delegates.]] San Francisco Peace Treaty The ROC administration announced October 25, 1945, as "Taiwan Retrocession Day." Reportedly, they were greeted as liberators by the island residents. However, the ROC military administration on Taiwan under Chen Yi, was extremely corrupt. This corruption, compounded with a period of hyperinflation, unrest due to the Chinese Civil War, and distrust due to political, cultural and lingual differences that had developed between the Taiwanese and the newcomers, quickly led to the loss of popular support for the new administration. This culminated in a series of severe clashes between the ROC administration and "native" Taiwanese, in turn leading to the bloody 228 incident and the reign of white terror. At the same time, the Chinese Civil War was in progress. In 1949, the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party or KMT), which at the time controlled the government of the ROC, retreated to Taiwan after continued military defeats at the hands of the Communist Party of China drove it from most parts of the mainland. Some 1.3 million refugees from mainland China arrived in Taiwan around that time. Initially, the United States abandoned the KMT and expected that Taiwan would fall to the Communists. However, in 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, and in the context of the Cold War, US President Harry S. Truman intervened again and dispatched the 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Straits to "neutralize" the Straits. In the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which came into force on April 28, 1952, and the Treaty of Taipei, concluded hours before that date, Japan formally renounced all right, claim and title to Formosa (Taiwan) and the Pescadores (Peng-hu), and renounced all treaties signed with China before 1942. Both treaties remained silent about who would take control of the island, in part to avoid taking sides in the ongoing Chinese Civil War. Advocates of Taiwan independence have used this omission to justify self-determination. During the 1960s and 1970s, Taiwan began to develop into a prosperous and dynamic economy, becoming one of the East Asian Tigers while maintaining an authoritarian, one-party government. Because of the Cold War, most Western nations and the United Nations regarded the Republic of China government on Taiwan as the sole legitimate government of China until the 1970s, when most nations began switching recognition to the People's Republic of China. After Chiang Kai-Shek died in 1975 his Vice-President, Yen Chia-kan, briefly took over from 1975 to 1978. During the presidency of Chiang Ching-kuo, from 1978 to 1987, Taiwan's political system began a gradual liberalization. Martial law, which had been in effect since 1948, was lifted in 1987. Upon Chiang's death, Vice President Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president of the ROC and chairman of the KMT, and effective one-party rule was ended in 1991. Lee became the first Taiwanese to become the president during KMT rule. In 2000, President Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party was elected, creating the first peaceful democratic transition in power. After surviving a politically controversial assassination attempt which the opposition claimed as staged to win sympathy votes the night before the 2004 election, Chen was re-elected by a slim margin. Medical and police investigation have verified that the wounds sustained by President Chen and Vice President Annette Lu are real, and no evidence has been found suggesting that the assassination was staged. See also
- Timeline of Taiwanese history
- History of the Republic of China
- History of China

Political divisions

Main article: Political divisions of the Republic of China Taiwan Island contains all but one county of Taiwan Province: 15 counties and all five province-administered cities. Penghu (the Pescadores) is the only county in Taiwan Province which is not on Taiwan. Taiwan's two largest cities, Taipei City and Kaohsiung City, although on the island of Taiwan, are not part of Taiwan Province but are centrally-administered municipalities, with the same level as provinces. Since 1998, the provincial tier of government has been largely eliminated, leaving the county the main division under the central government. Currently, in addition to the main island of Taiwan, the Republic of China also controls the Pescadores, Kinmen (Quemoy), and Matsu islands situated in the Taiwan Strait off the coast of mainland Fujian (Fuchien), plus some Pacific Coast islands (notably the Green and Orchid islands). Furthermore, the ROC also claims some islands in the South China Sea. Some of these outer islands, notably the Spratly (Nansha) islands -- claimed by PRC, ROC and some southeastern Asian countries simultaneously --in the South China Sea and the Senkaku (Diaoyutai) islands -- occupied by Japan now but disputed by both PRC and ROC --in the Pacific Coast.

Geography

Senkaku Main article: Geography of Taiwan The island of Taiwan lies some 200 kilometers off the southeastern coast of China, across the Taiwan Strait, and has an area of 35,801 square kilometers (13,823 square miles), with the East China Sea to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest. The island is characterised by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of rugged mountains running in five ranges from the northern to the southern tip of the island, and the flat to gently rolling plains in the west that are also home to most of Taiwan's population. Taiwan's highest point is the Yu Shan at 3,952 meters. Taiwan's climate is marine tropical. The rainy season lasts from June to August during the southwest monsoon, though cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year. Natural hazards include typhoons and earthquakes. Taiwan is a center of bird endemism. See Endemic Birds of Taiwan for further information. With its high population density and many factories, Taiwan suffers from heavy pollution. According to one report, Taiwan ranks 119 out of 143 countries examined by [http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/taiwanenv.html Energy Information Administration]. Taipei City suffers from heavy air pollution as a result of the ring of mountains that surrounds it, effectively trapping soot and smog in the city.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Taiwan ROC's population was estimated in 2005 as being 22.9 million, most of which are on Taiwan. About 98 percent of the population is of Han Chinese ethnicity. Of these people, 84 percent are descendants of early Han immigrants known as native Taiwanese (c: 本省人; p: Bensheng ren; lit. "home-province person"). This group contains two subgroups. The first subgroup is the Southern Fujianese (70 percent of the total population), who migrated from the coastal Southern Fujian region in the southeast of mainland China. The second subgroup is the Hakka (15 percent of the total population), who originally migrated south to Guangdong, its surrounding areas and Taiwan, intermarrying extensively with Taiwanese aborigines. The remaining 14 percent of Han Chinese are known as Mainlanders (外省人; Waisheng ren; lit. "external-province person") and are composed of and descend from immigrants who arrived after the Second World War. This group fled mainland China in 1949 following the Nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Dalu ren (大陸人) refers to residents of Mainland China. This group excludes almost all Taiwanese, including the Mainlanders, except recent immigrants from mainland China, such as those made Republic of China citizens through marriage. The other 2 percent of Taiwan's population, numbering about 440,000, are the Taiwanese aborigines (原住民; yuánzhùmín; lit. "original inhabitants"), divided into 12 major groups: Ami, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Saisiyat, Yami, Thao, Kavalan and Taroko.

Languages

Almost everyone on Taiwan born after the early 1950s can speak Mandarin, which was forced on the mainly Taiwanese/Japanese speaking population in a heavy-handed way, when the KMT came to Taiwan. It became the official language of Taiwan, via the Republic of China, and has been the medium of instruction in the schools for more than four decades. Under KMT rule, Taiwanese was forbidden from the airwaves and in official situations, and students received corporal punishment, as they did for many other infractions, for speaking Taiwanese, Hakka, or Aboriginal languages in school. Today, non-Mandarin native languages have undergone a revival in Taiwan. A large fraction of people speak Taiwanese, a variant of Min-nan, and a majority understand it. A large proportion speak Hakka, which has a distinct Hakka language/dialect. Between 1900 and 1945, Japanese was the medium of instruction, and many Taiwanese educated during that period can speak fluent Japanese. All Taiwanese schools today teach English, resulting in a trilingual population, many of whom speak even more languages, though the average student rarely reaches fluency. Chinese romanization on Taiwan uses both Tongyong pinyin, which the national government officially has adopted, and Hanyu pinyin, which some localities use. Wade-Giles, used traditionally, also is found. Mayor Ma Ying-jeou recently changed all Taipei street names to the Hanyu form, although most romanizations in other cities still are in Tongyong and addresses are generally written in Tongyong. Most aboriginal groups in Taiwan have their own languages, and unlike Taiwanese or Hakka, do not belong to the Chinese language family, but rather belong to the Austronesian language family. Mandarin is still the languge of instruction in schools and predominate television and airwaves.

Religion

About half of the ROC population is religious, and most of these people identify themselves as Buddhists or Taoists. Belief in folk religion also is prevalent, and many people practice some combination of these three faiths. Confucianism is also an honored school of thought and ethical code. Christian churches have been active on Taiwan for many years; a majority of these churches are Protestant, with Presbyterians playing a particularly significant role.

Economy

Presbyterian Main article: Economy of Taiwan Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing state involvement in investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, the government is privatizing some large banks and industrial firms. Real growth in gross domestic product has averaged about 8 percent during the past three decades. Exports have provided the primary impetus for industrialization. The trade surplus is substantial, and foreign reserves are the world's third largest. The ROC has its own currency: the New Taiwan Dollar. Agriculture constitutes only 2 percent of GDP, down from 35 percent in 1952. Traditional labor-intensive industries are moving steadily offshore, with more capital- and technology-intensive industries replacing them. Taiwan has become a major investor in mainland China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam; around 50,000 Taiwanese businesses are established in mainland China. Taiwan is one of the largest foreign investors in mainland China. Because of its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbors from the Asian financial crisis in 1998–1999. The global economic downturn, however, combined with poor policy coordination by the new administration and increasing bad debts in the banking system, pushed Taiwan into recession in 2001, the first whole year of negative growth since 1947. Due to the relocation of many manufacturing and labor-intensive industries to mainland China, unemployment also peaked at a level last seen during the 1970s oil crisis. This problem became one of the major issues in the presidential election of 2004. The unemployment rate eventually declined after the government adopted a few economy-stimulating measures. The ROC has entered international governmental trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization and APEC under the name Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (台灣、澎湖、金門及馬祖個別關稅領域) in WTO and under the name Chinese Taipei in APEC. Although the PRC objects to having other countries maintain diplomatic or official relations with the ROC, it made no objection to having the ROC maintain economic relations. However, under PRC pressure, the ROC joined governmental organizations under different names. The opening of the Taipei Financial Center, also know as Taipei 101 due to its number of floors, on December 31, 2004, brought more world recognition to Taiwan and Taipei. Taipei 101, equipped with the world's fastest elevators, is the world's tallest building. The surrounding financial district is steadily becoming more recognized in the world market, and a trendy shopping district is rapidly growing around it as well. Along with Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, Taiwan is known as one of the East Asian Tigers. [http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/?article=olds.taiwan.economic.history]

References

See also


- List of Taiwan-related topics (by category)
- Cinema of Taiwan
- Communications in the Republic of China
- Demographics of Taiwan
- Economy of Taiwan
- Holidays in the Republic of China
- Literature of Taiwan
- Music of Taiwan
- Military of Taiwan
- Taiwanese aborigine
- Taiwanese cuisine
- Taiwanese language
- Taiwanese photography
- Timeline of Taiwanese history
- Transportation in the Republic of China

External links

Government


- [http://www.gio.gov.tw Government Information Office] - government information portal
- [http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V4e/index.htm Central Weather Bureau] - local weather and earthquake reports
- [http://english.www.gov.tw/e-Gov/index.jsp Electronic Government] - e-government, entry point of Taiwan

Tourism


- [http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/north_east_asia/taiwan/ Lonely Planet Destination Taiwan] - travel guide
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Taiwan Taiwan travel guide at Wikitravel]
- [http://www.tbroc.gov.tw/lan/cht/index/ Taiwan Tourism Bureau] - local travel news
- [http://site.voila.fr/taiwan/index.html Taiwan from inside] - Pictures of the daily life in Taiwan

Taiwan news in English


- [http://www.taiwanheadlines.com/ Taiwan Headlines -- news via Taiwan's Government Information Office]
- [http://en.pots.com.tw/ "POTS EXTRA, Taipei's Free Weekly"]
- [http://www.cbs.org.tw/ Radio Taiwan International]
- [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/ Taipei Times]
- [http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/ Taiwan Central News Agency]
- [http://news.cens.com/ Taiwan Economic News]
- [http://www.etaiwannews.com/ Taiwan News]
- [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/ The China Post]

Misc.


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1285915.stm Country Profile on BBC]
- [http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/ China History Forums]
- [http://www.taiwannation.com.tw History of Taiwan from a TI perspective]
- [http://wufi.org/english.html WUFI - World United Formosans for Independence] Category:Disputed territories Category:Republic of China
- ja:台湾 ko:중화민국 ms:Taiwan simple:Taiwan th:ไต้หวัน zh-min-nan:Tâi-oân

Pan-Blue Coalition

The Pan-Blue Coalition, or Pan-Blue Force (Chinese: 泛藍軍; pinyin: fàn lán jūn), is a political coalition in early 21st century Taiwan, consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), the People First Party (PFP), and the smaller New Party (CNP). The name comes from the party colors of the Kuomintang. This coalition tends to favor a Chinese nationalist identity over a Taiwanese separatist one and favors a softer policy and greater economic linkage with the People's Republic of China. It is opposed to the Pan-Green Coalition. The Pan-Blue Coalition is originally associated with Chinese reunification, but has moved towards a more conservative position supporting the status quo. The two parties are still staunchly defending the sovereignty of the Republic of China, though not Taiwan. Much of the support and opposition to the coalition has to do with relations with Mainland China, however economics is also an important factor. Support for the coalition among the poor and Aboriginals is high because of widespread dissatisfaction with Pan-Green economic policies that have undone the island's famed "economic miracle." Throughout the 1990s, the Kuomintang consisted of an uneasy relationship between those which supported a Chinese nationalist identity for Taiwan and those, led by President Lee Teng-hui, who supported a stronger Taiwanese separatist identity. This led to a split in the early 1990s, when the New Party was formed. During the 2000 presidential election, Lee Teng-hui arranged for Lien Chan to be nominated as Kuomintang candidate for president rather than the more popular James Soong, who bolted from the party and formed his own People First Party. Many in Taiwan believed that Lee's action was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Kuomintang to ensure victory for Chen Shui-bian of the DPP. In the 2000 presidential election itself, the split in Kuomintang votes between Soong and Lien led in part to the election of Chen Shui-bian. After the election, there was widespread anger within the Kuomintang against Lee Teng-hui, who was expelled and formed his own pro-Taiwan independence party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union. After Lee's expulsion, the Kuomintang moved its policies back to a more conservative one and began informal but close cooperation with the People First Party and the New Party. This coalition became informally known as the Pan-Blue Coalition. Although the members of the Pan-Blue Coalition maintain separate party structures, they closely cooperate in large part to ensure that electoral strategies are coordinated, so that votes are not split among them leading to a victory by the Pan-Green Coalition. New Party The KMT and PFP ran a combined ticket in the 2004 presidential elections with Lien Chan running for president and James Soong running for vice president. The campaign emblem for the Lien-Soong campaign was a two seat bicycle with a blue (the color of the KMT) figure in the first seat and an orange (the color of the PFP) figure in the second. There were talks in late 2004 that the KMT and the PFP would merge into one party in 2005, but these talks have been put on hold. In the 2004 legislative election the three parties from the pan-blue coalition organized themselves to properly divide up the votes (配票) to prevent splitting the vote. The New Party ran all but one of its candidates under the KMT banner. The result was that the KMT gained 11 more seats and the PFP lost 12 seats. Right after the election, PFP chairman James Soong began criticizing the KMT for sacrificing the PFP for its own gains and stated that he would not participate in any negotiations regarding to the two parties' merge. Soong's remarks have been strongly criticized by the KMT, a majority of PFP members, and the New Party, whose rank and file were largely absorbed by the PFP following the 2001 elections. Nonetheless, shortly after the legislative election, the PFP legislative caucus agreed to cooperate with the DPP over the investigation into the KMT's finances. On February 24, 2005, James Soong met with President Chen for the first time in four years and issued a [http://english.www.gov.tw/index.jsp?id=11&recid=103953&viewdate=0 10 point declaration] supporting the name "Republic of China", the status quo in cross-Strait relations, and the opening of the Three Links. Unlike Soong, Lien did not respond to the offer from Chen to meet. However, after the 2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China, Soong and Chen stopped their partnership. The popular Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou was also elected the new head of the Kuomintang, and was considered the leading contender for the KMT nomination in the 2008 presidential election. However, it was uncertain whether the KMT and PFP could agree to field a common ticket. On the 2005 chairmanship election, Soong had made a televised endorsement of Ma's opponent Wang Jin-pyng. In the December 2005 3-in-1 local elections, the KMT made large gains and held 14 seats, the DPP suffered defeat and held only six, the PFP retained only one, and the TSU was completely shut out. This led the PFP to announce on December 12 that it would merge into the KMT in two phases, the first being completed by the end of January 2006. Ma Ying-jeou was now virtually assured of leading the KMT and pan-blues for the 2008 presidential election, but it is unclear as yet whether Soong will run as vice-president, although it seems likely.

See also


- Pan-Green Coalition
- Pan-Purple Coalition

External links


- [http://www.kmt.org.tw/Aboutus/English/Aboutus-12-8.html KMT: Pan-Blue Alliance]
- [http://www.lien.org.tw/English/i0803.asp Lien Chan: KMT-PFP News Release] Category:Taiwan ja:泛藍連盟

Chinese reunification

Chinese reunification is a goal of Chinese nationalism which is the unification of all of "China" under a single political entity. As Hong Kong and Macau have been reunited with mainland China under the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China, the only outstanding issue is between the mainland and Taiwan (and the islands of the Pescadores, Quemoy, Matsu), which have continued to be administered by the Republic of China. The two sides have been separated since the establishment of the People's Republic of China on the mainland at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Unification is controversial with varying and sometimes conflicting definitions. It is supported by the government of the People's Republic of China and to different degrees by the Kuomintang, People First Party, and New Party (known collectively as the pan-blue coalition) in Taiwan. It is opposed to varying degrees by supporters of Taiwan independence, which include supporters of the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (known collectively as the pan-green coalition). Some of them refer to it as Chinese unification, Chinese expansionism or annexation by China. Within the political scene of Taiwan, unification versus independence defines the political spectrum with the caveat that much of the support to either bloc is unrelated to the pro-unification versus pro-independence issue and with the caveat that most people in Taiwan are in the middle of the spectrum.

Current Status

Although seen as a desirable long term goal by supporters of Chinese nationalism, actual unification has long been seen in Taiwan as impractical, even by its strongest supporters. Throughout the 1990's, the People's Republic of China offered reunification on the basis of one country, two systems, an idea met with little interest or support on Taiwan. Under the administration of Hu Jintao, attitudes toward reunification among the leadership in Beijing appears to have shifted. Starting in 2003, the focus of Beijing's policies appears to have shifted from promotion of unification to prevention of Taiwan independence.

Development

The concept of "one China" has been part of the Chinese political orthodoxy since ancient times. Often, if one claimed to be the emperor with the mandate of heaven, then all other regimes within the country were either considered rebel or tributary. Accordingly, from the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 until the mid-1970s the concept of unification was not the main subject of discourse between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China; each formally envisioned a military takeover of one by the other. The Kuomintang believed that they would, probably with American help, one day retake the mainland while Mao Zedong's communist regime would collapse in a popular uprising and the Nationalist forces would be welcomed back. The Communist Party of China considered the Republic of China to have been made defunct by the newly-established People's Republic of China and thus regarded the ROC a renegade entity to be eliminated for the sake of unification. The concept of unification replaced the concept of liberation by the PRC in 1979 as it sought, with the death of Mao, economic reform and pursued a more pragmatic and less ideological foreign policy. Within Taiwan, the possibility of retaking the mainland became increasingly remote in the 1970s particularly after the death of Chiang Kai-shek. With the loosening of authoritarian rule in the 1980s and the shift in power within the Kuomintang away from the Mainlanders who accompanied Chiang to Taiwan, the KMT began to move away from the ideology of Chinese unification. In 1991, President Lee Teng-hui announced that his government no longer disputed the rule of the Communists on the mainland leading to semi-official peace talks between the two sides. These talks broke down in 1999 when President Lee proposed to deal with the PRC on a "state-to-state" basis. Until the mid-1990s, supporters of Chinese unification on Taiwan were also bitterly opposed to the Communist Party of China. Since the mid-1990s there has been a considerable warming of relations between the Communist Party and supporters of Chinese unification as the pro-Taiwan independence bloc in Taiwan has come to power as a common enemy. This has brought about the accusation that unification supporters are attempting to sell out Taiwan. The standard response is that closer ties with mainland China, especially economically, are in the interest of Taiwan. After the presidential elections of 2000, which brought the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party's candidate Chen Shui-bian to power, the Kuomintang, faced with defections to the People First Party, expelled Lee Teng-hui and his supporters and shifted the party toward unification. Also, the People's Republic of China has shifted its efforts at promoted unification away from military threats (which it has not renounced but which it has not emphasized) toward economic incentives designed to encourage Taiwanese businesses into investing in the mainland and creating a pro-Beijing bloc within the Taiwanese electorate. Within Taiwan, supporters of unification generally do not assert that the Republic of China should be the sole Chinese government. They tend to see "China" as a larger cultural entity divided by the Chinese Civil War into separate states or governments within the country. In addition, supporters of unification also do not oppose localization of culture or a Taiwanese identity but rather see the Taiwanese identity as one piece of a broader Chinese identity rather than as a separate cultural identity. What supporters of Chinese unification do oppose is desinicization or the effort to create a Taiwanese identity that is separate from the Chinese one.

Support

The overwhelming consensus on the mainland is support for unification by all means necessary, much as a matter of national pride for the PRC but also for economic reasons. In this light the method by which unification is achieved becomes irrelevant. However, according to the PRC government, the only acceptable format of reunifcation is under the PRC—either by "One Country Two Systems" or by force. Analysts predict Beijing will go to great costs to obtain Taiwan, even if it means international isolation or economic destruction as the issue has been ingrained into the concept of Chinese nationalism. In Taiwan, support for unification had varied. Chinese unification is often stereotyped as being the ideology of the Mainlander community on Taiwan, although there are many non-Mainlanders who support unification and some Mainlanders who oppose it. The proportion, however, of mainlanders who support unification when compared to the native Taiwanese is much higher. The parties which do advocate a stance more sympathetic towards unification often command considerable support for reasons that have nothing to do with cross-strait relations. Furthermore, even strong supporters of unification often have deep reservations about the timing and nature of unification. Historically, throughout much of the last decade polls consistently suggest that 70% to 80% of all Taiwanese support maintaining the status quo—although the definition of the status quo is an area of intense debate. Immediate unification is a distant notion in Taiwan supported by only a 10% of Taiwanese residents and endorsed by none of the major political parties. The People First Party officially advocates that Taiwan should maintain the status quo. The Kuomintang has been consistently defending the sovereignty of the ROC, and the issue of unification has been conveniently dropped out. Although the latter two have often been viewed as supporters of Chinese unification, in most cases they are so in a traditional sense only. Their main difference to the pan-green coalition is that they believe Taiwan should identify itself culturally with China more, and opposes switching national identities. This sets them to be more sympathetic to the concept of unification in the future. "One Country Two Systems" has only as low as 6-7% support among Taiwanese. The main argument for this is the belief that Taiwan, a tiny island, ultimately can not compete with the mainland, and hence will benefit the most by reunifying as early as possible. Polls in Taiwan are often criticized as being biased and inaccurate. After the October 10, 2004 speech by President Chen, polls suggested that as little as 5% support for unification with 60% support for maintaining the status quo and 65% opposition for the founding of a Republic of Taiwan in 2008 (the speculated product of the 2006 constitutional reforms proposed by president Ch