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Taiwan Area 臺灣地區
Largest cities	New Taipei City
Languages	Mandarin Taiwanese Hokkien Hakka Formosan languages Matsunese
Ethnic groups	Han Taiwanese indigenous peoples
Demonym	Taiwanese (mainly in Taiwan and Penghu) Kinmenese (Kinmen) Matsunese (Matsu)
Area
• Total	36,193 km2 (13,974 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 census	23,681,968
• Density	650/km2 (1,683.5/sq mi)
Currency	New Taiwan Dollar (TWD, NTD)
Time zone	UTC+08:00 (National Standard Time)
Date format	yyyy年mm月dd日
Calling code	+886
Internet TLD	.tw,.台灣,.台湾

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TheTaiwan Area, also called theTaiwan Area of the Republic of China, thefree area of the Republic of China,^[I] and the "Tai-Min Area (Taiwan andFuchien)", is a term used to refer to the territories under the effective control of theRepublic of China (ROC, commonly known as "Taiwan").^[1] It has been in official use since theAdditional Articles of theConstitution of the Republic of China took effect, endingtemporary anti-communist provisions on 1 May 1991.^[2] The term is also used in the 1992Cross-Strait Act.

The area currently under the definition consists of the island groups ofTaiwan,Penghu,Kinmen,Matsu andsome minor islands. The collective term "Tai-Peng-Kin-Ma" is literally equivalent except that it only refers to the geographical areas of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu Area, to the exclusion ofWuqiu,Dongsha Island, andTaiping Island.^[3]

The term is complementary to "Mainland Area",^[4] which is practically viewed as being synonymous toMainland China under the control of thePeople's Republic of China,^[5] despite the fact that the Republic of China's constitution never defined specific territorial boundaries.^[6][7] Although acknowledging the reality of the Taiwan Strait, technically the Republic of China still claims to be the sole representative of China with its constitution.

The term "free area" or "Free China" was used during theSecond Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) to describe the territories under the control of theKuomintang ledNationalist government in Chungking (todayChongqing), as opposed to the parts ofChina underJapanese occupation, including Nanking (todayNanjing) the capital of the Republic of China until theJapanese invasion in 1937.

The Japanese occupation ended with theimperial surrender in 1945, but the term "Free China" was soon to acquire a new meaning in the context of the earlyCold War. Following theCommunist Party's victory in theChinese Civil War in 1949, the newly inauguratedPeople's Republic of China solidified its control ofmainland China, while theKuomintang government retreated to Taiwan and selectedTaipei to serve as the provisional capital of the Republic of China. Mainland China was officially considered to be in a state of "Communist Rebellion", also known as "Communist China" or "Red China", and furthermore all territories still under Nationalist administration were said to constitute the "Free Area" of China, also known as "Nationalist China" or "Free China". Thisperiod of mobilization was officially terminated by the government on 1 May 1991 with the implementation of theAdditional Articles of the Constitution.

Prior to theBattle of Dachen Archipelago in 1955, the Free Area also encompassed a group of islands off Zhejiang, up to then part of the ROC province ofChekiang. The islands have since been administered exclusively by the People's Republic of China.

Various names used to describe the geopolitical area include:

The term "free area of the Republic of China" has persisted to the present day in the ROC legislation. TheAdditional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China delegates numerous rights to exercise the sovereignty of the state, including that of electing thePresident andLegislature, to citizens residing in the "free area of the Republic of China". This term was put into the Constitution with the promulgation of the first set of amendments to the Constitution in 1991 and has been retained in the most recent revision passed in 2005.

The need to use the term "free area" in the Constitution arose out of the discrepancy between the notion that the Republic of China was the sole legitimate government of China and the pressures of the popular sovereignty movement. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were demands, particularly by theTangwai movement and other groups opposed to one-party authoritarian KMT rule, to restructure the ROC government, long dominated bymainlanders, to be more representative of the Taiwanese people it governed. For example, until 1991, members of the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan elected in 1948 to serve mainland constituencies remained in their posts indefinitely and the President of the Republic of China was to be elected by this same "Eternal Parliament" dominated by aging KMT members. However, more conservative politicians, while acquiescing to the need for increased democracy, feared that constitutional changes granting localized sovereignty would jeopardize the ROC government's claims as the legitimate Chinese government and thereby promoteTaiwan independence.

While the 1991 revisions of the Constitution granted the sovereignty rights to theTaiwanese people, it did not explicitly name Taiwan and instead used the term "free area" to maintain the notion that the Republic of China encompassed more than Taiwan. In ordinary legislation, the term "Taiwan Area" is usually used, especially in contexts of trade and exchange. In contrast to the "free area" is the "mainland area", which theAct Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area defines as "the territory of the Republic of China outside the Taiwan Area". However, on more practical grounds, the "mainland area" refers simply toMainland China.

In addition, there are two other Acts defining other "areas": the "Hong Kong andMacau Area" (Chinese:港澳地區). The hand-over of these former Europeancolonies to the People's Republic of China necessitated laws governing the relations of the Taiwan Area with them. The Acts are worded in a manner to avoid discussing whether the Republic of China claims sovereignty overHong Kong andMacau.

Based on theOne China policy, thePeople's Republic of China (PRC) does not recognize the legitimacy of the ROC. A series of standardized terms called "Taiwan-related terms" (涉台用语) were invented by the PRC government, which are used in official statements, news reports, and press releases, etc., to serve this purpose. Among them, the terms "Taiwan area" or "Taiwan authority" (台湾当局) are commonly used to replace "Republic of China" or "Taiwan" (because mentioning only "Taiwan" but not "Taiwan area" or "Taiwan Province" would give an impression that Taiwan is an independent country). For example, the term "Leader of the Taiwan area" (台湾地区领导人) is used to replace "President of the Republic of China" or "President of Taiwan", "Taiwanese citizens" is replaced with "Residents of Taiwan area" (台湾地区居民), andExecutive Yuan is called "Taiwan area's executive body" (台湾地区行政管理机构),^[8] etc.

In official PRC statistics involving Taiwan, "Taiwan Area" is widely used instead, corresponding to the ROC'sFree Area of the Republic of China, and is treated together withSpecial Administrative Regions rather than other provinces.^[9] Taiwan Province only includes Taiwan and associated islands such asthe Pescadores Islands, but "Taiwan Area" (the same as "Taiwan Area" as used by ROC, a.k.a.) is all area administered byTaipei and includesFujian islands such asKinmen,Matsu, as well as (at least in principle)Pratas Island (Tungsha/Dongsha) (part ofCijin District, Kaohsiung; claimed as part of Guangdong Province by the PRC) andTaiping Islands (assigned to Kaohsiung by ROC, and to Sansha and Hainan by PRC).^{[citation needed]} In 2017 Xinhua News Agency issued guidelines mandating noscare quotes for all members of local governments of Taiwan authorities (exceptFujian andLienchiang) and preferring the term "Taiwan Area" over the term "Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China", since the latter does not include theKinmen andMatsu islands.^[10]

Notes

• Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China
• Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China
• Constitution of the Republic of China
• History of the Republic of China
• Kuomintang
• Mainland China
• Politics of the Republic of China
• Soviet Zone / Liberated Zone
  • Chinese Soviet Republic
• Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China

Words in native languages

• Relations with Hong Kong and Macau
• Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area

• Geography of Taiwan
• Politics of Taiwan
• Taiwan Strait

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• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 Chinese-language sources (zh)
• Articles with short description
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• Articles to be expanded from October 2021
• Government and politics articles needing translation from Chinese Wikipedia
• Articles with multiple maintenance issues
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
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