The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement advocating the Taiwan Area to become a de jure sovereign state, either as the Republic of China (ROC) or the hypothetical Republic of Taiwan. This position contrasts with support for Chinese unification under the One China stance advocated by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Kuomintang (KMT), as well as with maintaining the status quo in cross-strait relations.
Taiwan's political status is ambiguous due to two historical issues—the competing claims of the PRC and ROC to the entirety of each other's territory due to the technically ongoing Chinese Civil War, and the circumstances surrounding the Treaty of San Francisco, which relinquished Japanese control over Taiwan without officially granting sovereignty to any party. The meaning of "independence" is likewise contentious. Supporters may be referring either to Taidu, the notion of formally creating an independent state called the "Republic of Taiwan" by abolishing the ROC, or to Huadu, the notion that the ROC is already an independent state synonymous with the Taiwan Area. Debates on independence are intertwined with the history of colonization of Taiwan, particularly efforts by the KMT controlled ROC to sinicize Taiwan during the martial law era in the aftermath of World War II.
Regardless of Taiwan's current political status, the ROC exercises full autonomy in internal governance of the Taiwan Area and conducts official diplomatic relations with, and is recognized by, 11 member states of the United Nations and Vatican City. Since 2016 the government, led by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has asserted that formal independence is unnecessary as Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China.
In present-day ROC politics, the KMT and the broader Pan-Blue Coalition seek to retain the ambiguous status quo of the ROC under the 1992 Consensus (One China, but different interpretations of China) or gradually reunify with mainland China under the ROC. They are opposed by the DPP and the Pan-Green Coalition, which support independence and argue that unification is a threat to Taiwan's sovereignty, regionalist identity, liberal democratic system and human rights. The Pan-Green Coalition also believes distancing from the concept of "China" and "Chinese identity" is needed for Taiwan to avoid conflation with the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Within the Pan-Green Coalition, Taidu activists advocate for de-Sinicization and Taiwanization of the island and society, while the establishment favors maintaining the status quo under the Huadu position.
Because the current ROC constitution includes mainland China as part of ROC territory, the process to separate Taiwan from mainland China per the ROC constitution must be initiated by one-fourth of the members of the Legislative Yuan, passed by the Legislative Yuan by a three-fourths majority with at least three-fourths of members attending, and then approved by half of all eligible voters in a referendum.
The Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China strongly oppose Taiwanese independence, believing that both Taiwan and mainland China are part of their territory, and regard any moves toward independence as separatism which could trigger a military response under the Anti-Secession Law. The PRC also reject any notion of "Two Chinas", which under the PRC's political and legal framework, the ROC had ceased to exist as a legitimate sovereign state in 1949 when the PRC was established. Within PRC domestic law, the territory controlled by the ROC is designated as Taiwan Province, PRC. According to the PRC's interpretation, the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 establish that Taiwan is part of the PRC under international law. The PRC has officially maintained its position of peaceful unification with Taiwan under the one country, two systems formula but does not rule out using military force, if necessary, to reunify the island should formal independence be declared. Under 2024 legal guidelines, the PRC regards advocating for Taiwan independence, regardless of jurisdiction, as a criminal offense—serious cases may result in capital punishment.
History
Background
Taiwan is an island in East Asia. The indigenous population, who came from nearby China, spoke Austronesian languages. These aboriginal people have lived on the island for over 6000 years and, before 1620, were its only inhabitants. Taiwan has been occupied by several nations, including Spain, the Netherlands, China, and Japan.
After its defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Kuomintang, which had ruled the Republic of China since 1928, retreated to Taiwan where it ruled until Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became president in 2000.
Early From a pro-independence supporter's point of view, the movement for Taiwan independence began under Qing rule in the 1680s which led to the well known saying, "Every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion". Taiwan Independence supporters compared Taiwan under KMT rule to South Africa under apartheid.
Taiwanese society and culture was heavily shaped by the Japanese occupation of the island, which promoted Japanization policies that co-opted local elites with the Imperial Japanese Army. This sparked off localist resistance against the Japanese by both indigenous peoples and native-born Han Chinese-Taiwanese, which was eventually suppressed. Initially carried out by local militias and Qing loyalists between 1895 to 1915, as direct armed rebellions were systematically eliminated by the 1920s, Taiwanese intellectuals pivoted to nonviolent anti-colonial resistance to fight for political autonomy and civil rights. Japan's 50-year colonial rule catalyzed the modern Taiwan independence movement by forging a distinct Taiwanese identity formed through shared experiences under Japanese institutions, education and infrastructure development. Local elections were permitted in 1935, which was the first introduction of voting.
The Taiwan independence movement under Japan was supported by Mao Zedong in the 1930s as a means of freeing Taiwan from Japanese rule.
With the end of World War II in 1945, by issuing "General Order No. 1" to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, the Allies agreed that the Republic of China Army under the KMT would "temporarily occupy Taiwan, on behalf of the Allied forces."
Martial law period
The modern-day political movement for Taiwan independence dates back to the Japanese colonial period, but it only became a viable political force within Taiwan in the 1990s. Taiwanese independence was advocated periodically during the Japanese colonial period, but was suppressed by the Japanese government. These efforts were the goal of the Taiwanese Communist Party of the late 1920s. Unlike current formulations, and in line with the thinking of the Comintern, such a state would have been a proletarian one. With the end of World War II in 1945, Japanese rule ended, but the subsequent autocratic rule of the KMT later revived calls for local rule. However, it was a movement supported by the Chinese students who were born on the Island and not associated with KMT. It found its roots in the US and Japan. In the 1950s, a Republic of Taiwan Provisional Government was set up in Japan. Thomas Liao was nominally the President. At one time it held quasi-official relations with the newly independent Indonesia. This was possible mainly through the connections between Sukarno and the Provisional Government's Southeast Asian liaison, Chen Chih-hsiung, who had assisted in Indonesia's local resistance movements against Japanese rule.
After the transfer of power from Japan to the ROC, the focus of the movement was as a vehicle for discontent from the native Taiwanese against the rule of "mainlanders" (i.e. mainland Chinese-born people who fled to Taiwan with KMT in the late 1940s). The February 28 Incident in 1947 and the ensuing martial law that lasted until 1987 contributed to the period of White Terror on the island, persecuting not only indigenous leftists, but liberals and democracy advocates as well.
Between 1949 and 1991, the official position of the ROC government on Taiwan was that it was the legitimate government of all of China and it used this position as justification for authoritarian measures such as the refusal to vacate the seats held by delegates elected on the mainland in 1947 for the Legislative Yuan. The Taiwan independence movement intensified in response to this and presented an alternative vision of a sovereign and independent Taiwanese state. This vision was represented through a number of symbols such as the use of Taiwanese in opposition to the school-taught Mandarin Chinese.
Several scholars drafted various versions of a constitution, as both political statement or vision and as intellectual exercise. Most of these drafts favor a bicameral parliament rather than presidential system. In at least one such draft, seats in the upper house would be divided equally among Taiwan's established ethnicities. In the 1980s the Chinese Nationalist government considered publication of these ideas criminal. In the most dramatic case, it decided to arrest the pro-independence publisher Cheng Nan-jung for publishing a version in his Tang-wai magazine, Liberty Era Weekly (). Rather than giving himself up, Cheng self-immolated in protest. Other campaigns and tactics toward such a State have included soliciting designs from the public for a new national flag and anthem (for example, Taiwan the Formosa). More recently the Taiwan Name Rectification Campaign () has played an active role. More traditional independence supporters, however, have criticized name rectification as merely a superficial tactic devoid of the larger vision inherent in the independence agenda.
Various overseas Taiwan independence movements, such as the Formosan Association, World United Formosans for Independence, United Young Formosans for Independence, Union for Formosa's Independence in Europe, United Formosans in America for Independence, and Committee for Human Rights in Formosa, published "The Independent Formosa" in several volumes with the publisher "Formosan Association." In "The Independent Formosa, Volumes 2–3", they tried to justify Taiwanese collaboration with Japan during World War II by saying that the "atmosphere covered the whole Japanese territories, including Korea and Formosa, and the Japanese mainlands as well", when Taiwanese publications supported Japan's "holy war", and that the people who did it were not at fault.Original from the University of Michigan
The anti-communist KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek, President of the ROC on Taiwan, believed that the Americans were going to plot a coup against him in collusion with Taiwan independence activists. In 1950, Chiang Ching-kuo became director of the secret police, which he remained until 1965. Chiang also considered some people who were friends to Americans to be his enemies. An enemy of the Chiang family, Wu Kuo-chen, was kicked out of his position of governor of Taiwan by Chiang Ching-kuo and fled to America in 1953. Chiang Ching-kuo, educated in the Soviet Union, initiated Soviet style military organization in the ROC Military. He reorganized and Sovietized the political officer corps, surveillance, and KMT party activities. Opposed to this was Sun Li-jen, who was educated at the American Virginia Military Institute. Chiang orchestrated the controversial court-martial and arrest of General Sun Li-jen in August 1955, for plotting a coup d'état with the American CIA against his father Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT. The CIA allegedly wanted to help Sun take control of Taiwan and declare its independence.