ok, i don't really understand, is china in a civil war, with most of china being the People's Republic of China and the rest the Republic of China. Or is it like different parties, like Labour and Conservative in the UK? And if it is in a civil war, and they wanted to declare war on another country, then which part would go to war?


And i always thought Taiwan was a separate country, but obviously not, please, i would just like to be more informed about this area of Asia.

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The Way Of The Intercepting Fist

Hi JKD,

Before WWII China was officially ruled by the Kuomintang party, with opposition from Communist rebels and other forces. After WWII the KMT and CCP fought out their civil war, resulting in victory for the Communists. The KMT retreated to Taiwan, where the Communists could not get them due to US naval and air power. Since then, the mainland has been governed by the CCP and Taiwan has been governed by the KMT (and successor governments).

Initially the CCP was not recognised internationally as the valid government of China. The ROC retained China's UN seat. However during Nixon's tenure the US recognised the Communist government, the PRC gained a UN seat and the ROC lost its UN seat. Since then ROC has only had formal diplomatic recognition from a tiny number of very poor states (who presumably were financially supported by Taiwan). The official position of the PRC and ROC is that there is only one China. The PRC considers taiwan a "breakaway" province which must be reunited with the Mainland. Some people on Taiwan favour eventual reunification with the Mainland, while others want outright, formal independence.

Taiwan's legal status is unclear (CCP disagree, of course). Taiwan is de facto independent - it has it's own government, armed forces, money, etc. The recent presidential election returned the more "pro-Mainland" candidate, but it's not clear whether that will translate into actual movement towards reunification.

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No Fear No Hate No Pain No Broken Hearts

thanks for that, please could you also explain to me what the CCP is, and the KMT, and then i think i'm done.

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The Way Of The Intercepting Fist

CCP = Communist Party of China - Ruling Party in China.
KMT = Kuomintang - The party which once existed in China before 1949, before driven out to Taiwan in 1949.

Woo, r u a Chinese or English? Your statement is precise.

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借我三千虎贲，复我浩荡中华! 汉旗指处，望尘逃遁！敢犯我中华天威者，虽远必诛!

Thanks I'm British.

JKD - you're welcome

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No Fear No Hate No Pain No Broken Hearts

Taiwan is a part of China, due to the civil war between CCP and KMT in last century, Taiwan is kept away from China for a long time, but people in Taiwan and China mainland are all chinese, the seperation now is caused by politic, now some people want Taiwan to be independent, the CCP never allowes that! If Taiwan declared independence, the war is unavoidable!

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借我三千虎贲，复我浩荡中华! 汉旗指处，望尘逃遁！敢犯我中华天威者，虽远必诛!

At least that's what's written in Chinese Textbooks. China doesn't even run Taiwan's government and Taiwai is part of China by name.

That's my impression - that many people on the mainland would rather kill Taiwanese people than suffer them calling themselves independent.

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No Fear No Hate No Pain No Broken Hearts

So, is the KMT, basically the ROC, and then the government of china which isn't in Taiwan the PROC?

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The Way Of The Intercepting Fist