Lai Ching-te (DPP) Hsiao Bi-khim (DPP) Cho Jung-tai (DPP) 11th Legislative Yuan Han Kuo-yu (KMT) Shieh Ming-yan acting Vacant Vacant Vacant Control Yuan Chen Chu Lee Hung-chun Local government Central Election Commission Kuomintang Democratic Progressive Party Taiwan People's Party Others New Power Party Taiwan Statebuilding Party People First Party Taiwan Solidarity Union New Party Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Newspapers United Daily News Liberty Times China Times Taipei Times Propaganda Censorship Film censorship Lin Chia-lung Cross-Strait relations Special state-to-state relations One Country on Each Side 1992 Consensus Taiwan consensus Chinese Taipei Australia–Taiwan relations Canada–Taiwan relations France–Taiwan relations Russia–Taiwan relations Taiwan–United Kingdom relations Taiwan–United States relations Republic of China (1912–1949) Chinese Civil War One-China policy China and the United Nations Chinese unification Taiwan independence movement Taiwanese nationalism Tangwai movement The concept of Two Chinas refers to the political divide between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC).

[1][2] In 1912, the Xuantong Emperor abdicated as a result of the Xinhai Revolution, and the Republic of China was established in Nanjing by revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen. At the same time, the Beiyang government, led by Yuan Shikai, a former Qing dynasty general, existed in Beijing, whose legitimacy was challenged by the Nationalist government under the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party).

This stalemate was enforced with the assistance of the United States government that began deterring an invasion of Taiwan after the start of the Korean War.

Since the 1990s, however, a rising movement for formal recognition of Taiwanese independence has made the political status of Taiwan the dominant issue, replacing the debate about the legitimate government of China.

Under President Chen, the ROC government was campaigning for the Republic of China to join the United Nations as representative of its effective territory—Taiwan and nearby islands—only.

[4][5] The position of the PRC and the KMT in Taiwan remains that there is only one sovereign entity of China, united and undevisable.

The liberal Pan-Green Coalition in Taiwan prefers the status quo and dedicates to maintaining the sovereignty over the territory under effective control.

ROC authorities clarified the constitutional reforms by stating they do not "dispute the fact that the PRC controls mainland China.

Democratization and liberalization of free speech has led to the emergence of the Taiwan independence movement, which supports the idea of "Two Chinas".

[16] In September 2008 President Ma Ying-jeou from the Kuomintang stated that the sovereignty issues between the two sovereigns cannot be resolved at present, and brought up the 1992 Consensus as a temporary measure until a solution becomes available.

[17] The spokesman for the ROC Presidential Office Wang Yu-chi (Chinese: 王郁琦) later clarified the President's statement and said that the relations are between two regions of one country, based on the context of ROC Constitution, and the Statute Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area and the 1992 Consensus.