The Relationship and Conflict of Cross-Strait/Formation of a Taiwanese Identity and Democratization of Taiwan

The relation between the two has been one of tension and animosity since 1949. The PRC considers Taiwan as a renegade province and, under its policy of "One China," has constantly called for reunification with it. Under their stance, the ROC in Taiwan, under the government of the KMT, continued to claim the whole of China's territory, this time with strong footholds.

The Cold War era dramatized the cross-strait tension when the U.S. awarded military and diplomatic protection to Taiwan as part of its Cold War containment policy against regional expansion of communism. Military confrontation between the PRC and ROC during the 1950s and 1960s involved a series of crises known as the Taiwan Strait Crises in which the two sides confronted each other with artillery fire over Offshore Islands.

During that era, the island was placed under martial law because the KMT continually maintained its hold over political and civil affairs relating to the island.

However, in the 1980s and 1990s, democratization began to alter the political landscape. More specifically, martial law was lifted in 1987 under Chiang Ching-Kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, thereby providing a series of opportunities from which such a process of political liberalization could take place and move toward multi-party democracy in Taiwan. This was the period when a marked emergence of a distinctive Taiwanese identity appeared since the significant proportion of people on the island started to identify themselves as culturally and politically distinct from the mainland. In 1996, Taiwan held its first-ever direct presidential election, a milestone in its democratic journey. Tied to this democratic fever was a new robust pride in Taiwan's unique past and culture. The rise to power of the Democratic Progressive Party, committed to providing Taiwan with sovereignty and self-governance, took tensions to an even higher notch. The Status Quo and Current Cross-Strait Relation. The sensitive relationship across the strait between Taiwan and China has been fraught for decades. Taiwan and China, among the biggest economies on earth, deepened their ties with Taiwan becoming one of the largest investors in and trading partners with China. However, political and military tensions remain high. Beijing continues to claim Taiwan and has never publicly renounced the use of force against Taipei in pursuit of reunification. On the other hand, Taiwan has been building up international visibility and relations, especially with countries including the United States. Nevertheless, Chinese diplomatic influence has significantly limited the formal recognition by the international community of Taiwan. The United States maintains a "strategic ambiguity" policy on Taiwan—that is, it provides the latter with defensive support but does not directly commit itself to military intervention in case an evolving conflict between Taiwan and China should break out. Today, Taiwan symbolizes strong democracy, a dynamic economy, and cultural individuality. It remains embedded in the ongoing fight that is the phenomenon of managing China to stay autonomous and retain a mode of democratic lifestyle. No more a place today hopeful of substantive or meaningful geopolitical importance, not by any stretch of imagination, though its imperatives do rest on regional stability and global state relations.