That depends on how we define ‘China’. If by China we mean the People’s Republic of China (PRC) then Taiwan is not, and never has been, a part of China. If we mean the Republic of China (ROC) then it is accurate to say that the Republic Of China has solely existed on Taiwan since 1949 where it now exercises sovereignty. Our History of Taiwan page provides some more information about Taiwan’s colonial past and present, and why answering this question is not straightforward. For practical purposes however, the answer is “No, Taiwan is not a part of China as evidenced by the fact that the PRC exercises no sovereign authority or control of Taiwan (ROC) or Taiwanese.”
Yes. Statehood is formally defined under the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, which was signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26, 1933.
Taiwan meets all the conditions and characteristics of a self-determining nation-state under the Montevideo Convention. These are:
a permanent population
a defined territory
government; and
capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
The Montevideo Convention also makes clear that “the political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.”
Taiwan has many other characteristics that are seen in a nation state including:
Its own currency
Its own military
Its own codified legal system
Its own language(s)
Its own national Post Office
Its own Coast Guard
Its own national education, exams, and certification systems
Its own national health system
Its own airspace and EEZ waters
Its own national parks
Its own national power company
Its own Parliament and President
Its own tax system
Its own customs and immigration systems
Its own regulatory framework governing domestic and international law
Its own police force
Taiwan can therefore accurately be described as a country.
Yes. The ROC enjoys full international diplomatic relations with a number of other countries and States. As such it is exercising sovereignty, and it exercises it independently, both in practice and law.
In Taiwan, the terms ‘ROC’ and ‘Taiwan’ are now often used interchangeably. Polling on the issue of independence indicates that the overwhelming majority of Taiwanese regard their country as already independent, whether they interpret it as ROC or Taiwan.
Yes. Taiwan holds regular multi-party elections at all levels of Government from neighbourhood ‘wardens’ to town, city, and county councillors, Mayors, Country Commissioners, national legislature seats and the President.
In fact, Taiwan’s democracy demonstrates a high level of certainty of processes and uncertainty of outcomes, and representativeness of results, indicators of a robust and healthy democratic practice.
According to the Democracy Index 2023, published by the Economic Intelligence Unit, Taiwan remains 1st for democracy in Asia (8.92/10) and 10th globally, and ahead of the UK which ranked 18th with (8.28/10).
This is all the more remarkable given that the first direct democratic election of the President in Taiwan only took place in 1996 and the first transition of power between parties at the national executive level first occurred in 2000.
To date, there have been multiple local and national elections and three peaceful transitions of executive power in Taiwan. A whole generation of Taiwanese people have grown up in Taiwan knowing it as nothing but a flourishing democratic nation.
No, Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations despite meeting all the requirements for membership.
Taiwan (as the ROC) has not been a member of the U.N. since 1971 when its membership was replaced under Resolution 2758.
Not only are the people of Taiwan not represented at any UN institution, but Taiwanese citizens are not permitted to work for UN bodies and Taiwanese passport holders are prohibited from even visiting UN buildings.
No. The United Kingdom broke off formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on the 6th of January 1950.
Since then, all relations are conducted unofficially through the British Office Taipei and the Taipei Representative Office in the UK.
The UK does hold annual trade talks with Taiwan but British ministerial engagement with Taiwan’s democratically elected Government is severely restricted by FCDO convention due to the UK’s official recognition of the so-called ‘One China Policy’.
As of 2026, there are 12 countries and States which formally recognise Taiwan (ROC).
They are:
Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See (The Vatican), Marshall Islands, Palau, Paraguay, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Eswatini, Tuvalu
Here we refer to the work of Chong Ja Ian, hosted by the Carnegie Endowment For Democracy, titled: The Many “One Chinas”: Multiple Approaches to Taiwan and China.
Chong cites a 1996 essay by Lee Tzu-wen who listed nine types of positions that states generally adopt on the “one China” issue at the point of establishing official diplomatic ties with Beijing. Chong has listed the categories in the table below, and updated the names and numbers of states in each group as of January 2023. He has also add a classification for states recognising the ROC.
Note that the Republic of China is listed as recognised by 14 states. This number as of 2026 is 12, with Nauru and Honduras having switched recongnition to the PRC.
Yes.
It is often overlooked, but Taiwan is in fact the world’s 22nd largest trading economy and according to the International Monetary Fund, it has the 21st largest global GDP.
In 2020, the total bilateral trade between the UK and Taiwan amounted to £4.3 billion.
The UK is Taiwan’s third largest trading partner in Europe, while Taiwan is the UK’s seventh largest trading partner in Asia.
There are currently more than 300 UK companies operating in Taiwan and UK investment in Taiwan reached £450 million in 2020.
Opportunities for increased trade exist in sectors including green energy, high tech industries, financial services, and many other sectors.
There are annual trade talks held between representatives of the UK and Taiwanese Government. The Taiwanese Government is keen to deepen trading ties with post-Brexit Britain, but to date the UK Government has been reluctant to engage more closely.
The “1992 Consensus” is a term first coined in 2000 by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Chi (蘇起) to describe a claimed agreement between Taiwan and China during a meeting in Hong Kong in November 1992. Su claimed that both sides agreed to adhere to the so-called “One China” principle but with each side having their own respective interpretation of what ‘China’ meant.
Su has since admitted that he made up the term and experts now agree that while discussions were held between representatives of the PRC and the KMT military dictatorship that then controlled Taiwan, no such agreement was reached.
Since 1992 the PRC has never publicly stated agreement with the idea that either side can have their own interpretation of “One China”, yet since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, they have made recognition of the “1992 Consensus” a pre-requisite for dialogue between Taiwan and China.
This stance is a fundamental shift in Cross-Straits relations and has resulted in a severing of communications between Beijing and Taipei. The Taiwanese Government has repeatedly stated that it is open to talks but cannot recognise a so-called Consensus that was made up by an opposition politician.
The ‘One China Policy’ is a working arrangement by all nations and states that they either recognise Taiwan (ROC) or China (PRC) but not both at the same time.
The PRC insists on an acceptance of the “One China” policy as a condition of maintaining diplomatic ties. Most countries do adhere to this requirement although some, such as the US, take the official line of recognising (a legal formal diplomatic term) China’s interpretation of “One China” whilst only acknowledging (informal, not legally binding, the diplomatic equivalent of ‘yes, noted’) the Chinese claim to Taiwan.
It is because of the “One China” policy that the United Kingdom currently does not formally recognise the democratically elected Government of Taiwan and therefore all diplomatic relations between the two countries take place on an unofficial basis.
No. This exact question was addressed in 2007 when President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan sent a letter to then UN head Ban Ki-moon regarding letting Taiwan in the UN. Ban said that the UN position is that Taiwan is part of the PRC. The US and several other nations whose policies are that Taiwan is not part of the PRC (its status remains unresolved under international law and their policies) protested and Ban’s claim was rescinded. Although the UN often behaves as if Taiwan were part of the PRC (despicably so, it has turned over information on rights activists to the PRC), it has not formally accepted the PRC position. Most UN member states do not recognise the PRC’s claim. See Ian Chong’s recent piece at CSIS that reviews the One China policies of almost all nations. Only roughly 51 currently recognise PRC sovereignty over Taiwan, a number that includes almost none of the major powers.
No. The PRC has already invaded and occupied two nations, and has grabbed chunks of others, while attacking neighboring countries. It has occupied the South China Sea and extended its occupation southward towards Palawan, which PRC netizens are calling for. It has kidnapped people from overseas, and in 2024, PRC officials attempted to ram the car of the Veep of Taiwan on a trip to Prague.
The PRC doesn’t care about international law.
Moreover, because Taiwan’s status under international remains unresolved — it is not part of the PRC under international law (and if you raise UN 2758, Cairo, and Potsdam, it shows you are either clueless or a PRC tool) — the PRC has constantly attempted to treat Taiwan as a “domestic” or “internal” matter, outside international law. Hence Venezuela will not affect the PRC’s lust to annex Taiwan. Far more important than international law is the attitude of the US and Japan towards defending Taiwan.
Taiwan’s status after world war II: until April 28, 1952, Taiwan was under Japanese sovereignty. It was occupied by the Republic of China government on behalf of the allies. On April 28, 1952, Japan gave up sovereignty under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, but no recipient of sovereignty was named in the treaty. Hence, Taiwan’s status under international law remains unresolved, to this day. That is the policy roughly half of the world’s nations follow, including US, UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
It has never been under the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China, and is not today.
Those Declarations are statements of policy, subject to change in the future (as Truman explained in 1950). They have no effect on Taiwan’s status, despite Chinese expansionists screaming and whining about them.
Taiwan has never been part of China, and has never broken away from it.
Since Taiwan is not now and never has been part of China, there is no separatist threat. Rather Taiwan must protect itself from the threat of violent annexation by an authoritarian, expansionist state. Because the PRC is an empire interested in further expansion, Taiwan must seek allies and upgrade against defences to engage in asymmetrical defence against the PRC.
No, because (1) why would Taiwan give up something it already has (it isn’t part of China under int’l law) to (2) get a commitment from a power famous for breaking its agreements?
There is no 1C2S Acceptance in Taiwan, where polls for the last 30 years show the public decisively rejects it. It is a ruse offered by the Communist Party in the hope of annexing Taiwan without a fight, and to give its allies in Taiwan cover for legitimising that annexation via effectively suing for peace.
No they cannot. The only thing that can lead to war is a decision by the leaders of the People’s Republic of China to attack Taiwan. They can choose any number of pretexts for their action. However, words spoken by the President of Taiwan cannot cause a war. A war can only be caused by a decision of the People’s Republic of China, since Taiwan does not seek to annex China and will not attack it.
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