Why is taipei important

The Legislative Yuan passes a constitutional amendment package, halving the number of its seats from to and introducing the single-district, two-votes system for legislative elections. Ma Ying-jeou and Vincent C. Siew of the KMT are elected president and vice president of the ROC, garnering 58 percent of the vote and marking the second transfer of ROC government executive power in Taiwan between political parties.

Taiwan attends the World Health Assembly as an observer, marking its first participation in an activity of the U. Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou and his new running mate Wu Den-yih, representing the KMT, win the election for president and vice president with Taiwan signs an agreement on economic cooperation with New Zealand and an agreement on economic partnership with Singapore.

Sunflower Movement protesters occupy the Legislature to oppose the passing of the Cross- Strait Service Trade Agreement, preventing its passage. President Ma and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet in Singapore in November, marking the first top-level meeting between the two sides in 66 years.

The DPP gains its first legislative majority after securing 68 of the seats. Taiwan hosts the Taipei Summer Universiade. Prior to large-scale immigration of Han Chinese from southern Taiwan in the early 18th century, the Taipei area inhabited mainly by plains indigenous peoples.

The administrative center of New Taipei City is located in the Banqiao district, which is also the most populated and thriving area of the city. Immigration by ethnic Han Chinese began in A. With the Japanese retreat from Taiwan in , the incoming Republic of China Taiwan government established Taipei City and Keelung City into provincial administrative municipalities while making the rest of then Taipei region into Taipei County.

Taoyuan is a melting pot of different cultures including Hakka, Minnan, mainlander Chinese immigrants, indigenous people, and new immigrants. The Qing court initially included Taiwan as a part of Fujian province, but decided in the late 19 th century to establish Taiwan as a province in its own right. Originally separate administrative regions, Taichung County was incorporated into Taichung City in , making it the second-largest of Taiwan's five special municipalities with a population of around 2.

Occupying a broad plain framed by high mountains to the east and the sea to the west, Taichung has developed as a critical hub for road, rail, sea and air transport connecting the region to all other parts of Taiwan.

The city is made up of 29 administrative districts, each boasting uniquely distinctive cultural and natural landscapes, the legacy of centuries of diverse immigration and organic development, and giving the city a thriving cultural scene marked by a broad array of local and international events. Today, Tainan covers nearly square kilometers and is home to nearly 1. A walk around Tainan is like stepping back in time, and emphasizes the importance of traditional religion in Taiwanese life.

And in , when Taiwan elected Chen Shui-bian as president, Beijing was alarmed. Mr Chen had openly backed "independence". A year after Mr Chen was re-elected in , China passed a so-called anti-secession law, stating China's right to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan if it tried to "secede" from China. Mr Chen was succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou, who, after taking office in , sought to improve relations with China through economic agreements. Eight years later, in , Taiwan's current president Tsai Ing-wen was elected.

Despite the lack of formal ties, the US has pledged to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons and has stressed any attack by China would cause "grave concern". Throughout , China stepped up pressure on international companies, forcing them to list Taiwan as a part of China on their websites and threatening to block them for doing business in China if they failed to comply. Ms Tsai won a second term in By that time Hong Kong had seen months of unrest, with protesters demonstrating against the mainland's increasing influence - a development many in Taiwan were watching closely.

Later that year, China's implementation of a national security law in Hong Kong was widely seen as yet another sign that Beijing was becoming more assertive in the region. At the same time, the US has been intensifying its outreach to Taiwan and reassuring Taipei of its continued support. Last September, Washington sent the highest-level state department official in decades to visit the island. Beijing strongly criticised the meeting, warning the US "not to send any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' elements to avoid severe damage to China-US relations".

During the controversial visit, China conducted a live-fire military exercise in the waterway that separates the island from the mainland. This year, President Joe Biden's administration has said its commitment to Taiwan is "rock solid". In the first few days of Mr Biden's presidency, Taiwan reported a "large incursion" by Chinese warplanes over two days.

Then on 12 April, the Taiwanese government said China flew the largest number of military jets into its air defence zone for a year. There is disagreement and confusion about what Taiwan is. But the most important consideration is simply this: if China were to gain control of the island, its ability to operate east of the first island chain would be assured. Its navy effectively would have broken out into the Pacific, and the ability of U. So if Taiwan fell under the sway of Beijing, either peacefully or by force, the strategic balance in the Western Pacific would be irreparably changed.

Other nations in the region would see it as the end of U. The question is what to do about this danger. Those troops are gone now, and their attempted return might well provoke a conflict with Beijing. After all, China has a nuclear arsenal and the danger of escalation would dominate U. The U. That is why Washington is selling 66 FV Viper multirole fighters to Taipei, to add to the Fs its air force already has.

And it is the reason why Washington is selling Taiwan everything from M-1 tanks to torpedoes to Apache attack helicopters to tactical rockets.