| Country name | conventional long form: none conventional short form: Taiwan local long form: none local short form: Taiwan former: Formosa etymology: "Tayowan" was the name of the coastal sandbank where the Dutch erected their colonial headquarters on the island in the 17th century; the former name "Formosa" means "beautiful" in Portuguese |
| Government type | semi-presidential republic |
| Capital | name: Taipei geographic coordinates: 25 02 N, 121 31 E time difference: UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) etymology: the Chinese meaning is "Northern Taiwan," reflecting the city's position in the far north of the island |
| Administrative divisions | includes main island of Taiwan plus smaller islands nearby and off coast of China's Fujian Province; Taiwan is divided into 13 counties (xian, singular and plural), 3 cities (shi, singular and plural), and 6 special municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the Executive Yuan counties: Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Hualien, Kinmen, Lienchiang, Miaoli, Nantou, Penghu, Pingtung, Taitung, Yilan, Yunlin cities: Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung special municipalities: Kaohsiung (city), New Taipei (city), Taichung (city), Tainan (city), Taipei (city), Taoyuan (city) note: Taiwan uses a variety of romanization systems; while a modified Wade-Giles system still dominates, the city of Taipei has adopted a Pinyin romanization for street and place names within its boundaries; other local authorities use different romanization systems |
| National holiday | Republic Day (National Day), 10 October (1911); note - celebrates the anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, also known as Double Ten (10-10) Day |
| Constitution | history: previous 1912, 1931; latest adopted 25 December 1946, promulgated 1 January 1947, effective 25 December 1947 amendments: proposed by at least one fourth of the Legislative Yuan membership; passage requires approval by at least three-fourths majority vote of at least three fourths of the Legislative Yuan membership and approval in a referendum by more than half of eligible voters; revised several times, last in 2005 |
| Legal system | civil law system |
| International law organization participation | has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt |
| Citizenship | citizenship by birth: no citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Taiwan dual citizenship recognized: yes, except that citizens of Taiwan are not recognized as dual citizens of the People's Republic of China residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years |
| Suffrage | 20 years of age; universal; note - in mid-2016, the Legislative Yuan drafted a constitutional amendment to reduce the voting age to 18, but it has not passed as of December 2017 |
| Executive branch | chief of state: President TSAI Ing-wen (since 20 May 2016; re-elected on 11 Jan 2020); Vice President LAI Ching-te (since 20 May 2020) head of government: Premier SU Tseng-chang (President of the Executive Yuan) (since 11 January 2019); Vice Premier SHEN Jong-chin, Vice President of the Executive Yuan (since 19 June 2020) cabinet: Executive Yuan - ministers appointed by president on recommendation of premier elections/appointments: president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by simple majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 11 January 2020 (next to be held on 11 January 2024); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the premier election results: TSAI Ing-wen elected president; percent of vote - TSAI Ing-wen (DPP) 57.1%, HAN Kuo-yu (KMT) 38.6%; note - TSAI is the first woman elected president of Taiwan |
| Legislative branch | description: unicameral Legislative Yuan (113 seats; 73 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 34 directly elected in a single island-wide constituency by proportional representation vote, and 6 directly elected in multi-seat aboriginal constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms) elections: last held on 11 January 2020 (next to be held on 11 January 2024) election results: percent of vote by party - Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 34.0%, Kuomintang (KMT) 33.4%, Taiwan People's Party (TPP) 11.2%; seats by party - DPP 61, KMT 38, TPP 5 |
| Judicial branch | highest courts: Supreme Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and approximately 100 judges organized into 8 civil and 12 criminal divisions, each with a division chief justice and 4 associate justices); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and 13 justices) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court justices appointed by the president; Constitutional Court justices appointed by the president, with approval of the Legislative Yuan; Supreme Court justices serve for life; Constitutional Court justices appointed for 8-year terms, with half the membership renewed every 4 years subordinate courts: high courts; district courts; hierarchy of administrative courts |
| Political parties and leaders | Democratic Progressive Party or DPP [TSAI Ing-wen] Kuomintang or KMT (Nationalist Party) [CHIANG Chi-che, aka Johnny CHIANG] Taiwan People's Party or TPP [KO Wen-je] New Power Party or NPP [CHEN Jiau-hua] Taiwan Statebuilding Party or TSP [TAN Ek-che] |
| International organization participation | ADB (Taipei, China), APEC (Chinese Taipei), BCIE, IOC, ITUC (NGOs), SICA (observer), WTO (Taipei, China); note - separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: none; commercial and cultural relations with its citizens in the US are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic posts, represented by HSIAO Bi-khim (since 20 July 2020); office: 4201 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016; telephone: [1] (202) 895-1800 Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices (branch offices): Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver (CO), Houston, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: the US does not have an embassy in Taiwan; commercial and cultural relations with the people of Taiwan are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic posts; it is managed by Director Sandra OUDKIRK (since July 2021) mailing address: 4170 AIT Taipei Place, Washington DC 20521-4170 telephone: [886] 2-2162-2000 FAX: [886] 2-2162-2251 email address and website: TaipeiACS@state.gov https://www.ait.org.tw/ branch office(s): American Institute in Taiwan No. 100, Jinhu Road, Neihu District 11461, Taipei City other offices: Kaohsiung (Branch Office) |
| Flag description | red field with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays; the blue and white design of the canton (symbolizing the sun of progress) dates to 1895; it was later adopted as the flag of the Kuomintang Party; blue signifies liberty, justice, and democracy, red stands for fraternity, sacrifice, and nationalism, and white represents equality, frankness, and the people's livelihood; the 12 rays of the sun are those of the months and the twelve traditional Chinese hours (each ray equals two hours) note: similar to the flag of Samoa |
| National anthem | name: "Zhonghua Minguo guoge" (National Anthem of the Republic of China) lyrics/music: HU Han-min, TAI Chi-t'ao, and LIAO Chung-k'ai/CHENG Mao-Yun note: adopted 1930; also the song of the Kuomintang Party; it is informally known as "San Min Chu I" or "San Min Zhu Yi" (Three Principles of the People); because of political pressure from China, "Guo Qi Ge" (National Banner Song) is used at international events rather than the official anthem of Taiwan; the "National Banner Song" has gained popularity in Taiwan and is commonly used during flag raisings |
| National symbol(s) | white, 12-rayed sun on blue field; national colors: blue, white, red |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
