9781422275726

China is filled with several bustling cities, like Shanghai.

and their million-strong army have been replaced by twenty-first- century concerns like cyberwarfare and espionage. The status of China is made more complex byTaiwan, an island nation theoretically independent yet considered to be an integral part of the Chinese nation by authorities of both China andTaiwan. The communist government of the People’s Republic of China refers to mainland China, whereas the democratic government of the Republic of China refers to Taiwan. After the Chinese civil war between Mao Zedong’s communists and Chaing Kai-Shek’s Nationalists ended in 1950, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan; the United States sent its navy to protect Taiwan before the commu- nists could invade the island. China’s constitution declares that Taiwan is part of the Chinese homeland, and the Communist Party has come close to war several times in its history over the identity and independence of Taiwan. Unification remains a goal of both sides, but only on their own terms. This has led to a sit- uation where there is one China but two governments that both claim to be the authority of it.

Introduction

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