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Chinese history recorded to have Taiwan as a part of its territory. Aboriginals lived in Taiwan. Some Chinese people migrated to Taiwan due to famine in China.
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Portuguese established forts in Taiwan as part of its trading routes. They named Taiwan "Ilha Formosa", meaning beautiful island.
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The Dutch established Fort Zeelandia, Spanish established Fort Santa Domingo. Japan unsuccessfully attacked Taiwan several time. Eventaully, Dutch become the sole ruling power; Spanish and Portuguese retreated.
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Zheng Cheng Gong (鄭成功) in Ming Dynasty, captured Taiwan. Taiwan was no longer under colonial rule. The Chinese did not really cared about Taiwan for being a lonely island in the middle of the sea.
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Taiwan officially became a province in Qing Dynasty.
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Qing Empire signed Treaty of Shimonoseki (下関条約) ceding Taiwan to Japan after being defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War (甲午戰爭)
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Taiwan was under the suppress of Japanese Imperialists, they proclaimed Taiwan as the Republic of Formosa. However, this resulted in tremendous improvements, industralizations, and achievements politically, economically, and socially.
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Dr. Sun Yat-sen led the Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命), the last emporer, Puyi, abdicated his throne. Monarchy was abolished, Republic of China (中華民國）was established by Kuomingtang (Nationalist Party).
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The Communist Party of China was founded by Mao Zedong and others after the May Fourth Movement in 1919.
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Civil War broke out between Communist Party and KMT party. Mao and Chiang kai-shek, two power-hungry tyrants, saw the being the leader of China everything that mattered to them. Thousands died in this war, especially in the Long March.
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An ongoing event of suppression and execution of political dissidents under KMT government that ended in 1949. The Communist Party nearly destroyed.
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Taiwanese seeked self-determination, Japanese refused, and led to many uprisings among the Aboriginal tribes
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Japan invaded China and led to the outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War and ultimately World War II. WWII began here, not in Europe. China was unable to defeat the Japanese, mass murders occurred when the Japanese captured many cities, such as Nanjing Massacre, occurred in the former capital city of China. Both parties recognized Chinese needed to be united as a nation of defeat foreign invaders.
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The Empire of Japan surrendered after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. WWII ended. Taiwan was returned to China under KMT government.
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After Japan was defeated, conflicts soon rose between Mao's Communist Party and Chiang's KMT. Both seeked to be the sole ruler of China, resulted in the outbreak of civil war once again.
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228 Incident took place in Taiwan as part of the White Terror led by the Martial Law. Military police pistol-whipped an old woman believed to be selling contraband cigarettes. Her death sparked island-wide revolts and protests.
Over 20,000 Taiwanese people executed, wiping out a generation of political and academic elite. -
KMT was defeated and retreated to Taiwan. Mao's Communist Party established People's Republic of China.
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China's invasion of Taiwan failed due to the interference of Korean War.
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Treaty of San Francisco officially signed by 49 nations. Japan officially renounced claims to Taiwan.
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Treaty of San Francisco came into force. Japan renounced to have the claim to Taiwan but failed. Japan and the Republic of China then sign Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty.
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The crisis started with the 823 Artillery Bombardment when People's Liberation Army forces began an artillery bombardment, ROC forces returned fire. 2,500 ROC troops and 200 PRC troops were killed.
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The US formally announced the "two China" policy, supporting admission of the People's Republic of China into the UN. Taiwan got US' back.
However, the resolution, passed in October 25, 1971, recognized PRC as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and expelled ROC, which unlawfully occupied as a member of UN. -
The seat for "China" at the United Nations Security Council assumed ROC as part of the PRC.
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The Democratic Progressive Party was founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan.
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Today,martial law still exist, but have been suppressed in Taiwan and hold no power.
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Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was known as the "father of Taiwan's democracy"
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The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis was the effect of a series of missile tests conducted by the PRC in the waters surrounding Taiwan .The first set of missiles fired in 1995 were intended to send a strong signal to the "one-China policy".
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Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the opposition candidate from the DPP, elected as the president of Taiwan. His policy towards mainland China was "Taiwan is independent", which intensified the Cross-Strait relations.
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Chinese government passed the Anti-Succession Law (反分裂國家法) which emphasized that Taiwan is part of China and threatened the use of force against Taiwan if the government declared independence. In response, 1.6 million people marched in Taipei against China's "anti-secession law". Similar marches occur across the world by Taiwanese nationalists.
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Taiwan applied for membership in the United Nations under the name "Taiwan", and was rejected by the General Assembly.
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President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九）elected as the president of Taiwan, KMT gained its popularity after former President Chen was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for corruption, KMT becomes the dominant party once again. His policy towards China is to promote the Cross-Strait relations without China's political control over Taiwan.
