Friday, January 12, 2018

Why Taiwan is not considered an independent country by all nations?

Today's story is about the island nation of Taiwan, and the various reasons why China calls it as a state or territory. The capital of Taiwan is Taipei, and the Taipei 101 tower has served as an architectural icon for the country since 2005. Taiwan was my home for three years, from 1981-1984. Taiwan is called as Chinese Taipei, and the United Nations does not recognize Taiwan as a country. Taiwan's unemployment rate was 3.8% in 2017, and Electrical and Computer machinery are its top two exports. Taiwan has been independent of China since 1950, but do not mention this fact to most Chinese government officials. The Chinese government wants to keep Taiwan as a region, or state of China forever. Taiwan used to be called Formosa, and it is under the rule of Republic of China (ROC) in the Chinese constitution. Since 2013, over 67% of the Taiwanese population feel that the country should not unite with China. Almost 79% of the island population feel that they are Taiwanese, not Chinese. The official currency of Taiwan is the New Taiwan Dollar, and $1 is 30 Taiwan New Dollar (or NT). Could Taiwan go its own way or road, instead of being under Chinese unified rule? The country should pass an anti-secession law, but it could be many decades until this public opinion becomes a reality. Currently, the majority of the general public wants to maintain the status quo which is to be considered a region or state of China. More than 20 countries in different continents (North America, Asia, Africa, etc.) maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The political and legal status of Taiwan is called the 'Taiwan issue, or Taiwan problem.' In addition, the main language in Taiwan is mandarin Chinese. It is hilarious when people consider Taiwanese as a language. Heck, a few Chinese people have told me that Taiwanese is indeed a recognized language. This story's closing points is Taiwan should become an independent country, and hopefully this plan becomes a reality before 2050. The island nation of Taiwan may not be a very safe place, but the country has improved its economic status through major exports and a higher GDP in 2017. Taiwan is considered as one of the four Asian Tigers, and it is one of the largest supplier of computer chips in the world. Maybe, the flag of Taiwan will change its colors and symbols one day to be separated from China. The current flag of Taiwan shines brightly above.

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