Taiwan: Government#
| Country name | conventional long form: none conventional short form: Taiwan local long form: none local short form: Taiwan former: Formosa etymology: "Tayowan" was the name of the coastal sandbank where the Dutch erected their colonial headquarters on the island in the 17th century; the former name "Formosa" means "beautiful" in Portuguese |
|---|---|
| Government type | semi-presidential republic |
| Capital | Taipei
Taipei
geographic coordinates: 25 02 N, 121 31 E time difference: UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time) |
| Administrative divisions | includes main island of Taiwan plus smaller islands nearby and off coast of China's Fujian Province; Taiwan is divided into 13 counties (xian, singular and plural), 3 cities (shi, singular and plural), and 6 special municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the Executive Yuancounties: Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Hualien, Kinmen, Lienchiang, Miaoli, Nantou, Penghu, Pingtung, Taitung, Yilan, Yunlin cities: Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung special municipalities: Kaohsiung (city), New Taipei (city), Taichung (city), Tainan (city), Taipei (city), Taoyuan (city) note: Taiwan uses a variety of romanization systems; while a modified Wade-Giles system still dominates, the city of Taipei has adopted a Pinyin romanization for street and place names within its boundaries; other local authorities use different romanization systems |
| National holiday | Republic Day (Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution), 10 October (1911) |
| Constitution | previous 1912, 1931; latest adopted 25 December 1946, promulgated 1 January 1947, effective 25 December 1947; revised several times, last in 2005 (2016) |
| Legal system | civil law system |
| International law organization participation | has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt |
| Citizenship | citizenship by birth: no citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Taiwan dual citizenship recognized: yes, except that citizens of Taiwan are not recognized as dual citizens of the People's Republic of China residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years |
| Suffrage | 20 years of age; universal |
| Executive branch | chief of state: President TSAI Ing-wen (since 20 May 2016); Vice President CHEN Chien-jen (since 20 May 2016) head of government: Premier LIN Chuan (President of the Executive Yuan) (since 20 May 2016); Vice Premier LIN Hsi-yao, Vice President of the Executive Yuan (since 20 May 2016) cabinet: Executive Yuan - ministers appointed by president on recommendation of premier elections/appointments: president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by simple majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 16 January 2016 (next to be held in 2020); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the premier election results: TSAI Ing-wen elected president; percent of vote - TSAI Ing-wen (DPP) 56.1%, Eric CHU Li-lun (KMT) 31.0%, James SOONG Chu-yu (PFP) 12.8%; note - TSAI is the first woman elected president of Taiwan |
| Legislative branch | description: unicameral Legislative Yuan (113 seats; 73 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 34 directly elected in a single islandwide constituency by proportional representation vote, and 6 directly elected in multi-seat aboriginal constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms) elections: Legislative Yuan - last held on 16 January 2016 (next to be held in January 2020) election results: Legislative Yuan - percent of vote by party - DPP 44.1%, KMT 26.9%, PFP 6.5%, NPP 6.1%, other 16.4%; seats by party - DPP 68, KMT 35, NPP 5, PFP 3, NPSU 1, independent 1 |
| Judicial branch | highest court(s): Supreme Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and approximately 100 judges organized into 8 civil and 12 criminal divisions, each with a division chief justice and 4 associate justices); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and 13 justices) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court justices appointed by the president; Constitutional Court justices appointed by the president with approval of the Legislative Yuan; Supreme Court justices appointed for life; Constitutional Court justices appointed for 8-year terms with half the membership renewed every 4 years subordinate courts: high courts; district courts; hierarchy of administrative courts |
| Political parties and leaders | Democratic Progressive Party or DPP (TSAI Ing-wen) Kuomintang or KMT (Nationalist Party) (HUNG Hsiu-chu) New Power Party or NPP (HUANG Kuo-chang) Non-Partisan Solidarity Union or NPSU (LIN Pin-kuan) People First Party or PFP (James SOONG Chu-yu) Taiwan Solidarity Union or TSU (HUANG Kun-huei) |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | other: environmental groups; independence movement; various business groups note: public opinion polls consistently show most Taiwanese support maintaining Taiwan's status quo; advocates of Taiwan independence oppose unification with mainland China; most advocates of eventual unification predicate their goal on the democratic transformation of the mainland |
| International organization participation | ADB (Taipei, China), APEC (Chinese Taipei), BCIE, ICC (national committees), IOC, ITUC (NGOs), SICA (observer), WTO (Taipei, China) |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | none; commercial and cultural relations with the people in the United States are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic postsrepresentative: KAO Shuo-tai (a.k.a. Stanley KAO) (since 5 June 2016) office: 4201 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016 telephone: (1) 202 895-1800 Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices (branch offices): Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver (CO), Hagatna (Guam), Houston, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | none; commercial and cultural relations with the people on Taiwan are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic postsoffice: telephone: (1) (886) (02) 2162-2000 FAX: (1) (886) (02) 2162-2251 other offices: Kaohsiung (Branch Office) |
| Flag description | red field with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays; the blue and white design of the canton (symbolizing the sun of progress) dates to 1895; it was later adopted as the flag of the Kuomintang Party; blue signifies liberty, justice, and democracy; red stands for fraternity, sacrifice, and nationalism, white represents equality, frankness, and the people's livelihood; the 12 rays of the sun are those of the months and the twelve traditional Chinese hours (each ray equals two hours) |
| National symbol(s) | white, 12-rayed sun on blue field; national colors: blue, white, red |
| National anthem | name: "Zhonghua Minguo guoge" (National Anthem of the Republic of China) lyrics/music: HU Han-min, TAI Chi-t'ao, and LIAO Chung-k'ai/CHENG Mao-Yun note: adopted 1930; also the song of the Kuomintang Party; it is informally known as "San Min Chu I" or "San Min Zhu Yi" (Three Principles of the People); because of political pressure from China, "Guo Qi Ge" (National Banner Song) is used at international events rather than the official anthem of Taiwan; the "National Banner Song" has gained popularity in Taiwan and is commonly used during flag raisings |