www.taiwan-database.net
Welcome to the database politics Taiwan/R.O.C.!
The Republic of China (Zhonghua minguo 中華民國,
abbrev. ROC) was established
in 1912 and is a sovereign, independent and self-ruled state. Since 1987 it has
evolved from a one-party dictatorship to a modern, vibrant multi-party democracy, and its jurisdiction today covers Taiwan, the Pescadores (Penghu), Kinmen (Quemoy), Matsu and several smaller islets. The ROC
is usually referred to as Taiwan and should not be confused with the People's Republic of China (Zhonghua
renmin gongheguo 中華人民共和國, abbrev. PRC) which is in control of
the Chinese mainland. The PRC, established in 1949, has never controlled any part of the area that is currently under
the jurisdiction of the ROC. The administrative center of the ROC is Taipei.
Zoom in on Taiwan
The following four links show maps indicating Taiwan’s position in the world; copyright: © Relief Maps, computed by Hans Braxmeier; courtesy maps-for-free.com.
| Taiwan in the world | Taiwan in Asia | Taiwan in East Asia | Taiwan off continental China |
Click here to see the four maps as image sequence in MP4 format. Two more useful maps in JPG format show the 22 cities and counties of the ROC as well as Taiwan and its outlying islands.
Purpose of this website
Resourceful reference
As the name "Taiwan Politics Database" (Taiwan zhengzhi ziliaoku 台灣政治資料庫) suggests, this website is first and foremost a repository of data and information. It was created with the intention to cover all major aspects regarding politics of the ROC/Taiwan, providing reference material for academics, journalists and anybody interested in Taiwan affairs, cross-Strait issues and more.
Research on history and political science often involves gathering information about the structure of a government as well as the rulers and political players—understanding who held which office when. This website basically offers a concise but comprehensive record showing all ministerial-level officials (and more) in the history of the ROC. The ROC government structure, its changes and major political parties are also introduced.
Aside from providing data and information, another purpose of this website is promotion of Taiwan’s current vibrant multiparty democracy with all its freedoms and respect for human rights as its very existence is increasingly threatened by authoritarian expansionism, and Taiwan therefore needs the resolute support of other countries in the democratic camp.
Definition of a state
According to Article 1 in the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties
of States, a state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:
• a permanent population;
• a defined territory;
• government; and
• capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
This website shows that the ROC fulfills all those requirements.
Conflicting positions
Since the establishment of the PRC in 1949, there are two basic positions regarding the status of the ROC which are irreconcilable and have no common ground:
- Stance of the Chinese Communists—With the founding of the PRC, the existence of the ROC came to an end, and the ROC therefore has had no legitimacy ever since.
- Stance of the leadership in Taiwan—The founding of the PRC had no legal impact on the existence of the ROC, and the ROC has legitimate jurisdiction over the territories it controls.
In addition, some proponents of Taiwan independence claim that the ROC government has no legal jurisdiction over Taiwan. (More details regarding this point can be found under the headline "Legal aspects of Taiwan in the ROC" of the section Taiwan Province on the page "Local administration".)
The existence of these conflicting positions is an undeniable fact. Since this website intends to present the practical reality in Taiwan regardless of considerations concerning international recognition, government agencies are introduced with their official names, and the website also shows ROC state symbols like the national flag as well as logos of government agencies.
How to use this website
- Orientation and navigation
- Left-side Menu 網站選單 (左邊)
- Toolbar on Top 網站工具列 (上面)
- Bilingual glossary for Menu, Toolbar 「台灣政治資料庫」雙語的實用指導
- Romanization
- Enlarged images
- Disabled URLs
- No cell phone version
This website was set up to share information about politics in Taiwan/ROC. Its focus is on data, statistics and relevant explanations. A comprehensive introduction makes the website suitable for users with no prior knowledge about Taiwan and its politics.
All information and data put on the pages of this website by the chief researcher are accessible unrestricted and free of charge. Links to other websites might lead to contents which in some cases may be protected by a paywall or require membership.
Orientation and navigation
In addition to the welcome page here, this website consists of 28 pages, including 22 under the Left-side Menu and 6 under the Toolbar on Top.
Each page opens with an overview of the page’s contents, by and large like an excerpt of the page’s contents as shown on the Site Map. The only exceptions, i. e. pages without an overview, are the pages Disclaimer, Abbreviations and Symbols which have no further subdivisions.
On each page, the main subdivisions are the respective page's chapters which are marked with a diamond symbol ("◆"). Furthermore, a chapter may have subchapters.
The Taiwan Politics Database is not a dynamic website but a static one, hence there is no search function available for technical reasons. (The difference between static websites and dynamic websites is explained here.) A list of useful indices and timelines/chronologies can be found on the top of the page "Name Index".
Left-side Menu 網站選單 (左邊)
The Left-side Menu acts like a table of contents, each menu button leading to its own submenu (page). These pages cover all major aspects pertaining to politics in Taiwan/the ROC.
Please note that due to the sheer volume of available information and data, the ROC central government is presented on this website on three separate pages.
- The superordinate cabinet organization is introduced on the page "Executive Yuan (Cabinet)", including lists of the Executive Yuan leadership (premiers and vice premiers, secretary-generals, cabinet spokespersons, ministers without portfolio).
- The ministries, cabinet agencies and their subordinate level-3 agencies which are directed by the Executive Yuan are shown on the page "Ministries and cabinet agencies".
- The page "Other central government agencies" provides information about major agencies and institutions of the ROC central government which are not under the formal supervision of the Executive Yuan, including state-owned enterprises and the ROC military.
Toolbar on Top 網站工具列 (上面)
The Toolbar on Top offers quick access to the following content categories:
| Site Map | Symbols | Abbreviations | Tools | Maps | Name Index |
- Site Map—gives an overview of the entire website and serves as an important tool for orientation.
- Symbols, Abbreviations—display these particular items as to make understanding this website's contents easier.
- Tools—that page provides plenty of useful general background information on Taiwan like geography, climate, statistics and so on.
- Maps—shows general administrative maps of the ROC and Taiwan with an additional index of all maps on this website.
- Name Index—includes an alphabetical index of personal names with Hanyu Pinyin plus a useful alphabetical organizations index.
Bilingual glossary for Menu, Toolbar 「台灣政治資料庫」雙語的實用指導
For brief directions about the Left-side Menu WITH CHINESE please click
here.
本網站英文、中文選單內容請按這裏。
(中英文詞彙對照表)
For brief directions about the Toolbar on Top WITH CHINESE please click
here.
本網站英文、中文工具列解釋請按這裏。
(中英文詞彙對照表)
Romanization
By and large, all Chinese names of institutions, places and other terms are presented with their respective Chinese characters and their pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin. Longer quotes and text passages in Chinese are shown without Hanyu Pinyin. As for personal names, this website shows the English spelling most common in Taiwan's news publications and other media, and a name index of all persons who have/had a leadership position also presents the pronunciation of those names in Hanyu Pinyin.
Enlarged images
Some images on this website—i. e. most maps and presidential portraits—can be displayed in an enlarged format by clicking on
the original image. For most of the logos of agencies, organizations and companies the enlarging option is not available.
Disabled URLs
On this website hundreds of government agencies, public and private institutions, NGOs, commercial companies and other entities are introduced in detail, including the proper name and abbreviation, founding date, the succession of leaders since establishment, the current HQ address and the respective web link (URL). In some cases the web links shown here might have undergone changes since inclusion in this website, rendering their URLs here obsolete. The chief researcher does his best to keep all URLs up to date and apologizes for delays in updating disabled URLs.
No cell phone version
Please note that this database contains hundreds of tables, many of which with multiple columns and therefore unsuitable to be displayed
on the narrow screens of cellphones. For this reason no cellphone version was created for this website. Recommended devices for users of
this website include desktops, laptops/notebooks and tablet computers.
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