!!!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[{GoogleMap location='Taipei' zoom='6'}] \\ ''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 Yuan''counties'': 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 posts''representative'': 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 posts''office'':  \\ ''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 \\