Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China

Until the 1970s, most Western countries in the Western Bloc recognized the ROC while the Eastern Bloc and Third World countries generally recognized the PRC.

The PRC was established on 1 October 1949, when the Chinese Civil War was still underway, and the seat of Government of the Republic of China in Canton was not relocated to Taipei until December 1949.

All the countries that recognized the new PRC government in 1949 were communist states.

The Republic of China, which had occupied China's seat at the United Nations since 1945, was effectively expelled on 25 October 1971, through Resolution 2758 approved in the general assembly of said date.

Its seat was taken over by the People's Republic of China from 15 November 1971, and the migration of relations to the PRC soon followed among members of the Western Bloc, except for the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Italy and the Scandinavian Countries which had previously established diplomatic relations.

Countries of the world indicating decade diplomatic relations commenced with the PRC: 1949/1950s (dark red), 1960s (red), 1970s (orange), 1980s (beige), 1990s/2000s (yellow), and 2010s/2020s (green). Countries not recognised by or not recognising the PRC are in grey . The PRC itself is in black .