Читать книгу An Introduction to Intercultural Communication - Fred E. Jandt - Страница 130

Today, Taiwan is a technologically advanced island of 23 million people with a dynamic capitalist economy. In the past, Taiwan and the mainland disputed which was the legitimate government of one China. Taiwan’s government has evolved from one-party rule under martial law into a full-fledged democracy. In 1996, Taiwan became the first government in the Chinese-speaking world to have a democratically elected president. Education reforms added a Taiwan-centric history curriculum. Previously, textbooks focused only on Chinese history. Today more than half of the population identify as Taiwanese, about 40% identify as both Taiwanese and Chinese, and less than 4% identify only as Chinese.

Taiwan has never declared formal independence. It has argued that China is one country with two governments, much like Germany before reunification. On that basis, Taiwan sought greater international recognition and readmission to the United Nations. U.S. presidents have recognized that Taiwan is part of China, yet the United States has sold jet fighters to the Taiwanese and dispatched aircraft carriers to the waters off Taiwan when China displayed military force near its shores. Under the current president, despite public protests, China and Taiwan have held talks on improved relations, launched regular direct flights between the two, and allowed more mainland tourists to visit the island.