really? Then all the info listed below was nonsense?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan
Political status of Taiwan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Taiwan Strait Area
The de jure political status of Taiwan is controversial due to
questions about whether Taiwan should remain the Republic of China,
become part of the People's Republic of China, or become an
independent Republic of Taiwan. Currently, it is a de facto
independent state with a government based on representative
democracy. The official name of the state is the Republic of China.
Different groups have different concepts of what the current formal
political situation is. See also Taiwan independence and Chinese
reunification.
In addition, it can be confusing because of the different parties
and the effort by many groups to deal with the controversy through
a policy of deliberate ambiguity. The political solution that is
acceptable to most of the current groups is the status quo: that
is, to leave Taiwan's status the way that it is as a de facto
independent state without making a formal declaration of
independence. This is acceptable in large part because it does not
define the legal status or future status of Taiwan, leaving each
group to interpret the situation in a way that is politically
acceptable to its members.
Position of other countries and international organizations
The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan recognize
that there is one China and that the People's Republic of China is
the sole legitimate government of China. However, the US and Japan
acknowledge rather than recognize the PRC position that Taiwan is
part of China. In the case of Canada and the UK, the bilateral
written agreement stated that the two respective parties take note
of Beijing's position, but the word support was never used.
Although the Chinese media claims that the United States opposes
Taiwanese independence, the United States currently does not
support (contrast that to the word oppose) either reunification or
independence. The US does support both sides of the Taiwan Strait
to resolve their differences peacefully. All this ambiguity has
resulted in the United States constantly walking on a diplomatic
tightrope with regards to the China/Taiwan issue.
Most major countries have policies toward this issue that use very
careful language which is deliberately ambiguous. Under strong
pressure from PRC, international organizations also have different
policies toward this issue. In some cases (such as the UN and the
World Health Organization) the ROC has been completely shut out
while in others, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
International Olympic Committee (IOC) the government on Taiwan has
a special name--"Chinese Taipei" in the case of APEC and the IOC,
and the "Separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kimmen, and
Matsu" in the case of WTO. The ISO 3166 directory of names of
countries and territories registers Taiwan (TW) separately from
China (CN), but lists Taiwan as a "province of China".
IS THERE A QUESTION OF TAIWAN IN INTERNATIONAL LAW?
BY LEOPOLDO LOVELACE, JR
Leopoldo Lovelace, Jr. is a research scholar at the Mershon Center
for International Security & Public Policy Studies and a
Lecturing Professor of International Studies at the Ohio State
University. You can reach him via [email protected]
Summary: Professor Lovelace examines the competing claims of
sovereignty over Taiwan between the Peoples Republic of China and
the Republic of China on the basis of international law. While he
argues that international law itself does not unequivocally support
the claim of either party, it does provide a strong basis against
an armed conflict to resolve the issue.
