Taiwan is a part of China in East Asian. Located 160
kilometers from mainland China, it is bathed, to the
north and east, by the East China Sea, to the south by
the South China Sea, and to the west by the Taiwan
Strait. It has an area of 35 980 km 2 . The
main cities are Taipei, the capital, with 2 623 300
inhabitants (2004), Kao-hsiung (1 545 600 inhab.),
T'ai-chung (1 023 300 inhab.), T'ai-nan (739 700
inhabitants) and Panchiao (547,200 inhabitants).
It occupies a mountainous territory whose highest point,
Mount Yushan, is 3997 m. It is the highest area in East
China, the Philippines and Japan. In addition to the
main island, the province also includes the Fisherman's
Islands and the Chin-Men Tao and Ma-Tsu Tao
archipelagos. The mountains cover the eastern part of
the island, two-thirds of the total surface, and are
abundant with vegetation from which camphor oil, bamboo,
cedars and laurels are extracted.Climate
The climate is subtropical in the North and tropical in
the South. It has a dry season and a wet, monsoon
season. This territory is buffeted by typhoons, on
average four a year, between the months of July and
September. The rainfall is abundant and favors the
planting of a wide range of crops such as tea, sugar
cane, rice and bananas.
Economy
With the military and economic assistance received from
the United States, Taiwan developed its economy under
the influence of Western market. With the success of the
agrarian reform and industrial expansion program
implemented in the province, Taiwan went from an economy
based on traditional agriculture to a new industrial
province. Exports include electronic equipment, clothing
and footwear that allow the population to achieve a high
standard of living. Taiwan's economy is, however,
extremely dependent on the import of raw
materials. Taiwan's main trading partners are Japan, the
United States of America, Hong Kong and Germany.
Environmental indicator: the value of carbon dioxide
emissions, per capita, has not been attributed.
Population
In 2006, the population was 23,036,087 inhabitants
(2006) and corresponds to a population density of 621.7
inhab./km 2 . The birth and death rates are
respectively 12.56% and 6.48% . Average life expectancy
is 77.43 years. Neither the value of the Human
Development Index (HDI) nor the value of the
Gender-adjusted Development Index (IDG) have been
attributed (2001). It is estimated that, in 2025, the
population will be 25,298,000. The majority of the
population that inhabits the island of Formosa (Taiwan)
is Chinese and Chinese (Mandarin) is the official
language. The main religions are Buddhism, Confucianism,
Tauism and Christianity. Even Taiwan's cultural life is
based on Chinese, such as Taiwanese operas.
History
The name Formosa, for which Taiwan is also known, was
given by the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit
the island in 1590. The Spanish and the Dutch arrived
later and installed commercial warehouses there. Then it
was the time for the Manchus to colonize Taiwan, already
in the 18th century, when the sugar and rice plantations
were the largest in this region. In 1886 the island
became a Chinese province, but in 1895 it was ceded to
Japan following the Sino-Japanese war. Only after World
War II did it return to Chinese control. The island
became a Chinese province, with special status, on
October 25, 1945 and, four years later, was a refuge for
Chinese nationalists who enacted martial law and
established a nationalist government in Taiwan. The
Nationalist Party was the only one allowed until the
1980s. In 1954 the United States signed a defense treaty
with the nationalist government. For three decades
Taiwan received military and economic aid from the
United States, which was used to develop the country in
the light of Western market economies. An agrarian
reform and industrial expansion program was launched
that turned out to be successful. Taiwan has moved from
an economy based on traditional agriculture to a new
industrial province. A real economic miracle is how
Westerners classify the Taiwan phenomenon. Taiwan was
considered by Westerners as the representative country
for all of China, but in 1971 the United Nations removed
this status and replaced it with that of the province of
the People's Republic of China. The island's future is
only overshadowed by relations with China, which does
not want to grant independence to the territory,
contrary to the recent intentions of the Nationalist
Party of Taiwan. In 1996, for the first time in the
history of the Chinese world, a president was elected by
universal suffrage. Lee Teng-Hui, the president of
Taiwan, succeeds himself, but this time with popular
legitimacy and in the face of Chinese embarrassment at
seeing the unconditional support given to Taiwan by the
United States of America. |
