Taiwan, formerly known also as Formosa, is the main island of the Republic of China (Nationalist China). Located 185 km (115 mi.) off the southeast coast of mainland China, it was a colony of Japan after 1895 and returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1945. In 1949, it became the last refuge for the government of the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-Shek and the KuoMinTang (KMT Nationalist Party) when Communists took over mainland China and proclaimed the People's Republic of China. Both Nationalist and Communist China claim that Taiwan is a province of China and seek its reunification, on different terms, with the mainland.

As presently constituted, the Republic of China includes the island of Taiwan, 15 nearby islands that are Pescadores (Penghu Islands), and the strategically important islands of Quemoy and Ma-tsu near the mainland coast. Taiwan was modernized during the period of Japanese control and since 1949 has developed one of the world's fastest-growing industrial and export-oriented economies.