Taiwan

First inhabited by Austronesian people, Taiwan became home to Han immigrants beginning in the late Ming Dynasty (17th century). In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan, which then governed Taiwan for 50 years. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang, KMT) control after World War II. With the communist victory in the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Nationalist-controlled Republic of China government and 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and continued to claim to be the legitimate government for mainland China and Taiwan based on a 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Until 1987, however, the Nationalist Government ruled Taiwan under a civil war martial law declaration dating to 1948. Beginning in the 1970s, Nationalist authorities gradually began to incorporate the native population into the governing structure beyond the local level. The democratization process expanded rapidly in the 1980s, leading to the then illegal founding of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan’s first opposition party, in 1986 and the lifting of martial law the following year. Taiwan held legislative elections in 1992, the first in over 40 years, and its first direct presidential election in 1996. In the 2000 presidential elections, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power with the KMT loss to the DPP and afterwards experienced two additional democratic transfers of power in 2008 and 2016. Throughout this period, the island prospered, became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers," and after 2000 became a major investor in mainland China as cross-Strait ties matured. The dominant political issues continue to be economic reform and growth as well as management of sensitive relations between Taiwan and China.

 

Population: 23,588,613 (2023 est.)

 

Ethnic groups

Han Chinese (including Holo, who compose approximately 70% of Taiwan's population, Hakka, and other groups originating in mainland China) more than 95%, indigenous Malayo-Polynesian peoples 2.3%

 

note 1: there are 16 officially recognized indigenous groups: Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Hla'alua, Kanakaravu, Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Seediq, Thao, Truku, Tsou, and Yami; Amis, Paiwan, and Atayal are the largest and account for roughly 70% of the indigenous population

 

note 2: although not definitive, the majority of current genetic, archeological, and linguistic data support the theory that Taiwan is the ultimate source for the spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia; the expansion (ca. 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1200) took place via the Philippines and eastern Indonesia and reached Fiji and Tonga by about 900 B.C.; from there voyagers spread across the rest of the Pacific islands over the next two millennia

 

Languages

Mandarin (official), Min Nan, Hakka dialects, approximately 16 indigenous languages

 

Government

semi-presidential republic

 

Capital

name: Taipei

 

Economy

high-income East Asian economy; most technologically advanced computer microchip manufacturing; increasing Chinese interference threatens market capabilities; minimum wages rising; longstanding regional socioeconomic inequality

 

Agricultural products

rice, vegetables, pork, cabbages, poultry, sugar cane, milk, eggs, pineapples, tropical fruit

 

Industries

electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals

 

Exports - partners

China 26%, United States 14%, Hong Kong 12%, Japan 7%, Singapore 7%, South Korea 5% (2019)

 

Exports - commodities

integrated circuits, office machinery/parts, computers, refined petroleum, liquid crystal displays (2019)

 

Imports - partners

China 21%, Japan 16%, United States 11%, South Korea 6% (2019)

 

Imports - commodities

integrated circuits, crude petroleum, photography equipment, natural gas, refined petroleum (2019)

 

National air transport system

number of registered air carriers: 7 (2020)

inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 216

 

Airports: 37 (2021)

 

Pipelines

25 km condensate, 2,200 km gas, 13,500 km oil (2018)

 

Railways

total: 1,613.1 km (2018)

 

Roadways

total: 43,206 km (2017)

 

Merchant marine

total: 450 (2022)

by type: bulk carrier 34, container ship 53, general cargo 58, oil tanker 34, other 271

 

Military and security forces

Taiwan Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps), Air Force

 

note: the CGA is a law enforcement organization with homeland security functions during peacetime and national defense missions during wartime; it was established in 2000 from the integration of the Coast Guard Command (formerly under the Ministry of Defense), the Marine Police Bureau (formerly under the National Police), and several cutters from the Taiwan Directorate General of Customs (Ministry of Finance)

 

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 170,000 active-duty troops (90,000 Army; 40,000 Navy, including approximately 10,000 marines; 40,000 Air Force) (2023)

 

note: Taiwan trains about 120,000 reservists annually, but in 2022 announced intentions to increase that figure to 260,000

 

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military is armed mostly with secondhand weapons and equipment provided by the US, and the US has continued to be the largest provider of arms in recent years; Taiwan also has a domestic defense industry capable of building and upgrading a range of weapons systems, including surface ships and submarines (2023)

 

Military service age and obligation

starting with those born in 1994, men 18-36 years of age may volunteer or must complete 4 months of compulsory military service; civil service can be substituted for military service in some cases; men born before December 1993 are required to complete compulsory service for 12 months (military or civil); men are subject to training recalls up to four times for periods not to exceed 20 days for 8 years after discharge; women may enlist but are restricted to noncombat roles in most cases; as part of its transition to an all-volunteer military, the last cohort of 12-month military conscripts completed their service obligations in December 2018 (2023)

 

Military - note

the military’s primary responsibility is external security, including the defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory, and the protection of Taiwan’s air space, maritime claims, and sea lanes of communication; its main focus is the challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China; the military trains regularly and conducts multiservice exercises; the Army’s primary combat forces include nine mechanized or motorized infantry brigades, four armored brigades, and three artillery brigades; it also has an aviation and special forces command that includes several squadrons of attack helicopters; the Air Force has nearly 300 fighter and multipurpose fighter aircraft organized, plus squadrons for anti-submarine and electronic warfare, early warning, and surveillance; the Navy’s warship inventory includes four destroyers, 22 frigates, more than 40 corvettes, patrol vessels, and missile-armed attack craft, and two combat-capable attack submarines; it also has three marine infantry brigades 

 

the US Taiwan Relations Act of April 1979 states that the US shall provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character and shall maintain the capacity of the US to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan (2023)

 

Space

Space agency/agencies

Taiwan Space Agency (TASA; renamed from the National Space Program Organization, which was renamed in 2005 from the National Space Program Office, established in 1991); TASA is subordinate to the National Science and Technology Council (2023)

 

Space launch site(s)

sounding rockets launched from Jui Peng Air Base (Pingtung); in 2021, announced intentions to build future rocket launch site (2023)

 

Space program overview

space program focused on the acquisition of satellites and the development of independent space capabilities; manufactures and operates remote sensing (RS) and scientific/research satellites; manufactures and tests sounding rockets and small satellite launch vehicles (SLVs); researching and developing other space technologies, including communications satellites, small satellites, satellite payloads and ground station components, spacecraft components, optical RS and telecommunications, navigational control, and rocket propulsion systems; has bi-lateral relations with the space programs of India and the US but is blocked from participating in most international and regional space organizations due to political pressure from China; has a commercial space industry that provides components and expertise for TASA and is independently developing satellites and satellite launch vehicles (2023)

 

note: further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country’s space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in Appendix S

 

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international

Taiwan-Brunei-China-Malaysia-Philippines-Vietnam: involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea that are thought to have large oil and natural gas reserves, as well as being located amidst prime fishing grounds and busy commercial shipping traffic; the Spratly Islands also are in a strategic position for establishing a military presence to monitor activity in the South China Sea; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants

 

Taiwan-China-Philippines: border dispute over the Scarborough Reef in the South China Sea; Scarborough Reef, like the Spratly Islands, is strategically located and is surrounded by abundant fishing grounds; it may also be ripe for oil and natural gas exploration

 

Taiwan-China-Vietnam: the Paracel Islands are occupied by China but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam

 

Taiwan-Japan-China: in 2003, China and Taiwan became more vocal in rejecting both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea where all parties engage in hydrocarbon prospecting; Senkaku-shoto is situated near key shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds, and possibly significant oil and natural gas reserves