China refers to Taiwan as "Taiwan, China" or "Chinese Taipei" (especially in sports), reflecting its view that Taiwan is a province, using terms like "Taiwan Area" in official stats, while political discourse uses "Taiwan authorities" or emphasizes it's a "province of China," but avoids "Republic of China," seeing it as part of its sovereign territory, a stance enshrined in its Anti-Secession Law.
What is 'Chinese Taipei'? “Chinese Taipei” is the name Taiwan agreed upon with the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, in 1981 to participate in the Olympic Games. Instead of Taiwan's red and blue flag, Taiwanese athletes compete under the “Plum Blossom Banner,” a white flag that carries the Olympic rings.
The PRC's persistent policy is to keep Taipei isolated on the world stage and disagrees with any use of "Taiwan" as an official title, in order to prevent Taiwan from gaining international recognition for "independent statehood" separate from the PRC.
To count from 1 to 10 in Chinese, use these numerals and pronunciations: 一 (yī), 二 (èr), 三 (sān), 四 (sì), 五 (wǔ), 六 (liù), 七 (qī), 八 (bā), 九 (jiǔ), 十 (shí).
Most people in Taiwan see themselves as primarily Taiwanese; few say they're primarily Chinese. Voters in Taiwan recently handed a third consecutive victory to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which considers Taiwan separate from China and promotes a separate national identity.
Why can't Taiwan be called Taiwan in the Olympics?
The rule is strictly enforced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The rules are often attributed to pressure on the IOC from the Chinese Communist party government, which claims Taiwan as Chinese territory it intends to annex.
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, lies between the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south.
No, the UK does not officially recognize Taiwan as an independent sovereign state, adhering to the "One China" policy by recognizing the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the sole government of China; however, the UK maintains strong, unofficial economic, cultural, and political ties with Taiwan through entities like the British Office in Taipei and the Taipei Representative Office in the UK, supporting peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.
The People's Republic of China nominally considers residents of the Taiwan to be Chinese citizens under its nationality law, based on its claim over territories administered by the Republic of China (ROC).
This is a result of the complex cross-strait relations between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. The Olympic flag has been in use since 1981, following the decision by the International Olympic Committee that the ROC could not compete under the country's name or flag.
The “Individual Neutral Athlete” label is a special designation the IOC created for athletes from countries whose national Olympic committees are suspended or banned. In the case of the 2026 Games, it applies to athletes with Russian (and Belarusian) passports.
Following the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the association relocated to Taiwan along with the Republic of China government. Taiwan joined FIFA in 1954, and competed internationally under the name "Republic of China".
The ROC national flag has since then remained in use within the "Taiwan Area". The public display of this flag is still seen in historical museums and war cemeteries across mainland China, but its use otherwise remains illegal due to its history as a symbol of opposition to communism.
The PRC's claim is based on the theory of state succession, whereby it deems itself the regime that replaced the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China upon its establishment in 1949, and thus it denies the sovereignty of the ROC in Taiwan under its one China principle.
Afghanistan was banned in 2000 due to the Taliban's stance on women, and Kuwait was suspended in 2015 due to government interference in its Olympic committee. More recent bans have involved Russia and Belarus, which are excluded from the 2024 Paris Olympics due to their involvement in the Ukraine war.
In the eyes of the Mainlander Chinese, the Native Taiwanese ethnicity is merely a subgroup of the Chinese ethnicity. If you believe that you are Native Taiwanese (and actually are Native Taiwanese), then you are Native Taiwanese. If you are Native Taiwanese but believe that you are still Chinese, then you are Chinese.
It's like two regional dialects of the same language. Some vocabularies and pronunciations are different, but the vast majority of it is mutually intelligible. I am a mainland Chinese and have no problem reading Taiwanese books, watching Taiwanese shows/news, etc.
Chen (written 陳) is the most common surname in Taiwan. In order of popularity, the other top-ten family names are Lin (林), Huang (黃), Chang (張, often spelled Zhang), Lee (李, sometimes Li), Wang (王), Wu (吳), Liu (劉), Tsai (蔡, Cai), and Yang (楊).
Dutch Formosa. The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as Formosa, was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the island in 1544, and named it Formosa (Portuguese for "beautiful") due to the beautiful landscape as seen from the sea. The Spanish had translated the name into Spanish as "Hermosa" and is what was historically used in Spanish maps and documents about the colony.
