Stage of one of the greatest recent tensions between China and the US, Taiwan has always been in Beijing’s orbit, but has already lived under the yoke of other domains: it was a Dutch colony in the 17th century and the domain of Japan from the end of the 19th century until the Second World War. .
The island lived under the influence of Beijing authorities from the end of the conflict until the Chinese Civil War, which ended in 1949. At the time, nationalists who had been defeated by the troops of Mao Tse-tung, who would establish the one-party communist regime in China, fled to Taiwan and forged a capitalist government there.
The region of 23 million people calls itself independent, but Beijing considers it a rebel breakaway province that must be recaptured — by force if necessary.
Only 14 countries recognize it as a nation, most of them from Latin America and the Caribbean — such as Guatemala and Haiti. The diplomatic isolation is largely the result of pressure exerted by the “one China” policy, according to which countries can only have a relationship with Beijing, an economic giant, when they sever ties with Taipei.
The geopolitical imbroglio with Washington, with whom China is waging a Cold War 2.0, stems from this. The US established formal ties with Beijing in 1979, but describes Taiwan as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region, where it also vie for influence with the Asian communist regime, and maintains economic and military ties with the island.
In becoming the highest American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has directly hit sensitive points in the administration of leader Xi Jinping.
On his way to consolidating his third term as leader of the Chinese regime, Xi has once again raised Taiwan as one of Beijing’s priorities. He repeatedly stated that the goal of national rejuvenation, the goal for the centenary of the People’s Republic of China in 2049, included the reunification of the country.
“The historic task of the complete reunification of the motherland must be and will be definitively accomplished”, he said in mid-October.
The speech coincides with the change in US posture towards Taipei during the Joe Biden administration – the US president has already said, for example, that the US would use force to defend the region if it were militarily invaded by China.
Numerous military exercises have been recorded in recent months, and Beijing has even carried out the biggest air raid against Taiwan’s defenses in its history. Taipei, in turn, already has primers ready to react to a possible invasion and has carried out training exercises.
In a way, the Ukrainian War also became an ingredient of tension. After all, in Eastern Europe, Russia — an ally of China in geopolitical chess — has also invaded a smaller, militarily weaker territory with which its history is entwined.
With a GDP valued at US$ 766,000, according to official figures, Taiwan is now considered a democracy. The first direct presidential elections were held in 1996, when Lee Teng-hui (1923-2020), who was already in office, was elected by popular vote. He is known as “the father of Taiwanese democracy”.
The current president is Tsai Ing-wen, re-elected in 2020. At the time, she, averse to rapprochement with Beijing, received almost 8.2 million votes, the most a candidate has achieved since 1996.
