| Republic of China independence | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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.svg) Free area of the Republic of China, whichHuadu supporters posit is the territory of a sovereign state separate from mainland China | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中華民國獨立 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中华民国独立 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Abbreviation | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 華獨 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 华独 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Republic of China independence, abbreviated inChinese asHuadu (Chinese:華獨;pinyin:huá dú;Wade–Giles:hua2 tu2)[1] is a stance on thestatus of Taiwan that positsTaiwan and its outlying islands are presently an independent state (i.e. a distinctsovereign state from thePeople's Republic of China) under the name "Republic of China".
Huadu supporters reject theOne China principle, instead positing that:
Thus, because the PRC and ROC are currently simultaneously extant and politically distinct entities,Huadu can be vaguely interpreted as a perpetuation of thestatus quo.
TheTaiwanese nationalist movement is largely divided intoHuadu, which favors retaining "China" as part of the Taiwanese state's formal name to maintain legal ambiguity over thepolitical status of Taiwan; andTaidu (Chinese:台獨 or 臺獨;pinyin:tái dú), a syllabic abbreviation of "Taiwan independence" (Chinese:台灣獨立 or 臺灣獨立;pinyin:táiwān dúlì) that proposes a more radical departure from thestatus quo by making a formaldeclaration of independence to create ade jure "Republic of Taiwan", favouring total separation from China.[1]Huadu politics is generally favored by the moderate pro-independenceDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP)[a] while more radical groups such as theTaiwan Statebuilding Party andTaiwan Solidarity Union favor a declaration of independence. DPP politicians such as PresidentLai Ching-te hold that Taiwan is already independent as the Republic of China.[3][4] DPPhuadu supporters tend to seehuadu politics as a pragmatic way to assertTaiwan's independence without unnecessarilyaggravating the PRC government.[5]
In addition to independence activists, some politicians in theKuomintang (KMT) party also supportHuadu.[6] They generally oppose "one country, two systems" as well as further steps towardde jure independence.[7][8] 'Light blue' former KMT ChairJohnny Chiang insisted on the abolition of the1992 Consensus which was based on "one China".[9]
On January 6th, 2026,Japanese House of Councillors member,Hei Seki stated in a visit to Taipei that theRepublic of China was a separate, independent country from thePeople's Republic of China.[10]
Broadly speaking, they are divided into two camps: "Taiwan" independence (台獨 or臺獨, taidu) and "Republic of China (ROC)" independence (華獨, huadu). The basic difference between the two is between renaming the country Taiwan or maintaining Taiwan as an independent nation under the ROC name and maintaining the constitution.
In contrast, the 2005 law designed to forestall Taiwanese 'secession', which also outlined a positive agenda aimed at convincing the Taiwanese of the benefits of peaceful unification, left out the third part.
In fact, Wang notes that in its latest political platform, the KMT simultaneously stated its opposition to both "Taiwan independence" and "one country, two systems."
