History of Taiwan (1945–present)

In 1987, martial law was lifted and Taiwan began a democratisation process, beginning with the abolition of the Temporary Provisions and culminating with the first direct president election in 1996. By 2000, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power and began to pursue Taiwanese independence and identity.

The ROC retains rule over Taiwan Area which include main island of Taiwan, Penghu, Quemoy, Lienchiang, and other minor islands since early 1950s. Due to Taiwan's ambiguous political status, the ROC has participated in a number of international organizations under the name "Chinese Taipei". Under its One-China policy, the PRC holds that the ROC ceased to exist and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of the PRC despite the fact that it has never controlled the island. Moreover, the PRC refuses diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC.

Chronology

Early postwar society

The Second World War's hostilities came to a close on 2 September 1945, with the defeat of the Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. Taiwan, which had been ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, was placed under the control of the Kuomintang-led Republic of China (ROC) by the promulgation of General Order No. 1 and the signing of the Instrument of Surrender on that day.

He Yingqin, the ROC representative at the Japanese surrender ceremonies, established the Office of the Chief Executive of Taiwan Province separate from the provincial-level executive system on mainland China. After the establishment of the provincial executive office, Chen Yi was appointed Chief Executive. Chen proclaimed 25 October to be Retrocession Day. However, because Japan had not formally relinquished the sovereignty of Taiwan at that time, Allies of World War II did not recognize the unilateral annexation of Taiwan by the Republic of China.

Chen Yi's administration was marred by corruption, as well as a lack of discipline in the military police assigned to occupation duties, resulting in a severe undermining of the chain of command. With the rampant corruption in his administration, Chen Yi began to monopolize power. In addition to this, the island's post-war economy was failing and headed into a recession, causing people on the island to endure economic hardship. The government's program of "De-Japanization" also created cultural estrangement, along with tensions between the growing population of migrants from the mainland and the pre-war residents of the island. The building tensions erupted in 1947, when the arrest of a cigarette vendor by government agents led to the death of a bystander. The clashes between police and residents that followed quickly spread across the island, and grew into a general rebellion against Chen Yi and the Chief Executive's Office in what came to be known as the February 28 incident. Several weeks later, government troops were sent to Taiwan from the mainland to handle the crisis and to suppress any opposition or resistance to the government. Many prominent individuals in Taiwanese society, as well as other residents of the island, many of whom had nothing to do with the incident, were either killed, imprisoned without trial, or simply disappeared. The February 28 Incident was a prelude to the White Terror of the 1950s, resulting in ethnic tensions between pre-war and post-war residents, as well as the genesis of the Taiwanese independence movement.

After the February 28 Incident, the Kuomintang-led ROC government reorganized the local government, abolishing the Chief Executive's Office, while establishing a new provincial government. Wey Daw-ming, whose parents were scholars, became the first Governor of Taiwan Province and, during his administration, reduced the scope of the public enterprises, which had grown significantly under Chen Yi.

Wey was succeeded as governor by Chen Cheng in 1949. Wey reformed the currency system, replacing the devalued Old Taiwan dollar with the New Taiwan dollar, at a 40,000:1 exchange rate, and implemented the 375 Rent Reduction Act, easing the inflationary situation.

The KMT viewed the population of Taiwan as corrupted by Japanese influence and neither fully Chinese or fully trustworthy. This perceived influence led the KMT to believe that the population of Taiwan was backwards and required re-education. The KMT sought to remove any trace of Japanese influence and to force a full Chinese identity on the people of Taiwan.

After Japan's surrender, most of Taiwan's approximately 300,000 Japanese residents were expelled. The KMT also seized properties from Japanese colonists either for sale or for their own use. In modern Taiwan these appropriated properties are considered ill-gotten assets. The KMT also took assets which had belonged to the Japanese colonial authorities. In 2017 a court ordered the KMT to pay compensation for 458 properties which had been expropriated in this way.

Authoritarianism, martial rule and cold war

On 20 July 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale assault on CCP territory in Huabei with 113 brigades (a total of 1.6 million troops), starting a new phase of the Chinese Civil War. Chen Cheng, who served as the chairman of Taiwan Provincial Government and commander of Taiwan Garrison Command, declared martial law on the island on 19 May 1949. A part of the Republic of China, Taiwan inherited the international pronouncement of the ROC government including the 1932 Note Verbale to France, where China declared that its southernmost territory was the Paracels.

In December 1949, the Republic of China Armed Forces and the Kuomintang were defeated in the Chinese Civil War, forcing the Government of the Republic of China to relocate to Taiwan. This allowed the CCP to declare the establishment of a new Chinese state: the People's Republic of China.

Following their retreat to Taiwan the KMT viewed their retreat as a temporary one with Chiang Kai-shek saying "prepare for one year, counterattack in two years, sweep out the enemy in three years and succeed within five years." This led them to prioritize military armament and preparation over economic development.

After the February 28 Incident, the Nationalist government launched a campaign of suppression against political dissents. The KMT mostly imprisoned Taiwan's intellectual and social elite out of fear that they might resist their rule or sympathize with communism.

Up and until 1958, small-scale military campaigns between the ROC forces and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were carried out across the strait. An attempt by the CCP government to take the ROC-controlled island of Quemoy was thwarted in October 1949, halting the PLA advance towards Taiwan.

In April 1950, amphibious operations were successful in conquering Hainan Island in April 1950, leading to the capture of Wanshan Islands off the Guangdong coast (May–August 1950) and Zhoushan Island off Zhejiang (May 1950).

This period of tension lasted until the Second Strait Crisis, in which the United States pledged to protect the island from the mainland. From that point on, both sides of the strait have ceased all major hostilities against each other, with the ROC Navy having resumed unilateral combat and escort duties while the US Navy secretly and quietly removed their extra warships from the Taiwan Strait.

Democratic reforms

The Republic of China entered into the development phase of constitutional democracy with the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947. Subsequently, the National Revolutionary Army was also renamed as Republic of China Armed Forces and was nationalized. However, due to the Chinese Civil War, the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion were passed as an amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of China. This established martial law in Taiwan and curtailed civil liberties and democracy. The official rationale for the Provisions was the ongoing Chinese Civil War and ROC was effectively under the military rule of the KMT during the period of mobilization. Taiwan was effectively under martial law.

However, with the demise of the KMT single-party system and democratization movement during the 1980s, martial law was eventually lifted in 1987 (and its provisions were eventually rescinded in 1991). Constitutional democracy was restored in ROC after 1987.

When the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan in 1949, the Chinese Youth Party, China Democratic Socialist Party, and KMT were the only legal political parties in Taiwan. The other established parties operated under the Tangwai movement.

Until the early 1970s, the Republic of China was recognized as the sole legitimate government of China by the United Nations and most Western nations, which refused to recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) on account of the Cold War. The KMT rule of Taiwan under martial law until the late 1980s had the stated goals of being vigilant against Communist infiltration and preparing to retake mainland China. Therefore, political dissent was not tolerated.

The late 1970s and early 1980s were a turbulent time for the Taiwan-born as many of the people who had originally been oppressed and left behind by economic changes became members of Taiwan's new middle class. Free enterprise had allowed native Taiwanese to gain a powerful bargaining chip in their demands for respect for their basic human rights. The Kaohsiung Incident would be a major turning point for democracy in Taiwan.

Taiwan also faced setbacks in the international sphere. In 1971, the ROC government walked out of the United Nations shortly before it recognized the PRC government in Beijing as the legitimate holder of China's seat in the United Nations. The ROC had been offered dual representation, but Chiang Kai-shek demanded to retain a seat on the UN Security Council, which was not acceptable to the PRC. Chiang expressed his decision in his famous "the sky is not big enough for two suns" speech. In October 1971, Resolution 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly and "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" (and thus the ROC) were expelled from the UN and replaced as "China" by the PRC. In 1979, the United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Chiang Kai-shek died in April 1975 at the age of 87, and was succeeded in the presidency by Yen Chia-kan while his son Chiang Ching-kuo succeeded to the leadership of the Kuomintang (opting to take the title "Chairman" rather than the elder Chiang's title of "Director-General"). Formerly the head of the feared secret police, Chiang Ching-kuo recognized gaining foreign support to securing the ROC's future security required reform. His administration saw a gradual loosening of political controls, a transition towards democracy, and moves toward Taiwanization of the regime. Opponents of the Nationalists were no longer forbidden to hold meetings or publish papers. Though opposition political parties were still illegal, when the Democratic Progressive Party was established as the first opposition party in 1986, President Chiang decided against dissolving the group or persecuting its leaders. Its candidates officially ran in elections as independents in the Tangwai movement. In the following year, Chiang ended martial law and allowed family visits to mainland China.

Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwan born technocrat to be his vice president, first in the line of succession to the presidency. The move followed other reforms giving more power to native-born citizens and calmed anti-KMT sentiments during a period in which many other Asian autocracies were being challenged.

After Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988, his successor, President Lee Teng-hui, continued to democratize the government. Lee transferred more government authority to Taiwanese-born citizens, and Taiwan underwent a process of localization. In this localization process, local culture and history was promoted over a pan-China viewpoint. Lee's reforms included printing banknotes from the Central Bank instead of the usual Provincial Bank of Taiwan. He also largely suspended the operation of the Taiwan Provincial Government. In 1991 the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly, elected in 1947, were forced to resign. These groups were originally created to represent mainland China constituencies. Also lifted were the restrictions on the use of Taiwanese languages in the broadcast media and in schools. Lee Teng-hui believed that agriculture was the backbone of a nation and promoted it extensively. He implemented health insurance and occupational hazard insurance programs for farmers. He also emphasized the Japanese roots of much of Taiwan's agricultural infrastructure.

Attempting to maintain good relations with the PRC, Taiwan avoided any criticism of the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the media was largely barred from reporting on it. A group of students who attempted to sail a chartered ship into the Formosa Strait and beam pro-democracy broadcasts into China via amateur radio were foiled by the government by putting various obstacles in their way that caused them to abandon the attempt.

However, Lee failed to crack down on the massive corruption that pervaded the government and many KMT loyalists felt that Lee betrayed the ROC by taking reforms too far, while those in the opposition felt he did not take reforms far enough.

Democratic period

Lee ran as the incumbent in Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996 against DPP candidate and former dissident, Peng Min-ming. This election prompted the PRC to conduct a series of missile tests in the Taiwan Strait to intimidate the Taiwanese electorate so that electorates would vote for pro-unification candidates, Chen Li-an and Lin Yang-kang. The aggressive tactic prompted U.S. President Clinton to invoke the Taiwan Relations Act and dispatch two aircraft carrier battle groups into the region off Taiwan's southern coast to monitor the situation, and PRC's missile tests were forced to end earlier than planned. This incident is known as the 1996 Taiwan Straits Crisis.

One of Lee's final acts as president was to declare on German radio that the ROC and the PRC have a special state-to-state relationship. Lee's statement was met with the PLA conducting military drills in Fujian and a frightening island-wide blackout in Taiwan, causing many to fear an attack.

The 2000 presidential election marked the end of the Kuomintang's status as the ruling party. The DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian was elected president with Annette Lu as vice-president, after a three-way race that saw the Pan-Blue vote split by independent James Soong (formerly of the Kuomintang) and Kuomintang candidate Lien Chan. Chen garnered 39% of the vote. After the election, Soong formed the People First Party (PFP).

In August 2002, President Chen openly indicated that the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland is "One Country on Each Side". This declaration led to disputations throughout Taiwan, in mainland China and in the United States. In 2004, the day before the 2004 presidential election, there was a supposed assassination attempt on President Chen and Vice-president Lu. They were re-elected the next day, although the Pan-Blue Coalition disputed the legality of the result due to the close margin of the election and the shooting incident. In 2005, an ad hoc National Assembly passed constitutional amendments ruling that elections for the Legislative Yuan change to use of parallel voting, aiding the formation of a two-party system. As a result of scandals in the DPP administration, on 9 September 2006, former chairperson of the DPP, Shih Ming-teh, led an anti-Chen Shui-bian campaign called the Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go but did not achieve the desired result of President Chen's resignation.

The KMT also retained control of the legislature in the Legislative Yuan elections in January 2008. In the presidential election in May 2008, KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou ran on a platform supporting friendlier relations with mainland China and economic reforms and defeated DPP candidate Frank Hsieh with 58.48% of the vote.

Ma was re-elected, and the KMT retained its majority in the Legislative Yuan, in combined elections in January 2012. In the 2016 elections, the DPP regained power with Tsai Ing-wen becoming Taiwan's first female president.

On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples have a right to marry, and gave the Legislature Yuan two years to adequately amend Taiwanese marriage laws. According to the court ruling, if amendments are not passed within two years, same-sex marriages will automatically become legal. In effect, Taiwan (ROC) became the first country in Asia and the first non-UN sovereign state to allow same-sex marriage in May 2019.

The local elections held on November 24, 2018, resulted in a major setback for the DPP majority and led to President Tsai Ing-wen resignation as leader of the party. The DPP lost a total of nine legislative seats, giving the KMT control of the majority of the 22 seats. KMT mayoral candidates won in New Taipei City, Taichung and Kaohsiung, the latter of which has been a political stronghold for the DPP for 20 years.

In May 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

In January 2020, Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected in the presidential election. In the parliamentary election President Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won majority 61 out of 113 seats. The Kuomintang (KMT) won 38 seats.

The 2022 visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan resulted in increased tensions between Taiwan and China while reinforcing US-Taiwan ties. In response to the trip the PLA conducted military exercises around Taiwan, included missile launches which overflew Taiwan.

In January 2024, William Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party won Taiwan's presidential elections. However, for the first time since 2004, no party won a majority in the simultaneous legislative election. Instead, 51 seats were secured by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), 52 seats by the Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) secured eight seats.