|
Serving
Students at
Santa Ana
College and
Santiago
Canyon College
TAIWAN
Government
|
Type
of Government
Taiwan's
official name is Republic of China; it is also referred to as Nationalist
China.
Taiwan's
government type is multiparty democratic regime headed by a popularly elected
president consisting of a 400 seat National Assembly, a 220 seat unicameral
legislative yuan, and cabinent yuans. The chief of state is the president
and the head of government is the premier, who is appointed by the president.
There is a judicial yuan, a control yuan that monitors public service and
corruption, and an examination yuan that serves as a civil service commission.
Political opposition parties were legalized in 1989; the four major parties
are Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Kuomintang (KMT, the Nationalist
Party), People First Party (PFP), and Chinese New Party (CNP). Taiwan's
Constitution, signed on December 25, 1947, was last amended in 1997.
Suffrage is universal for those over 20 years of age.
An opposition
candidate won the presidential election on March 18, 2000. The peaceful
transfer of office from the Kuomintang to the Democratic Progressive Party
validated Taiwan's democratic political system.
Since
2000, Taiwan's Head of State has been President Chen Shui-bian and the
Head of Government has been Prime Minister Chang Chun-hsiung.
Capital
City: Taipei.
Nationality:
Chinese (singular and plural)
National
Day: October 10 (Anniversary of the 1911 Chinese Revolution)
Taiwanese
are sensitive about their relationship with the mainland. Taiwan’s
government still considers itself the only legitimate government of the
mainland and does not recognize the Communist regime. Therefore,
refer to the People’s Republic of China as mainland China and to Beijing
as Peking or Beiping, which means “northern peace” rather than “northern
capital”. Despite the differences between Taiwan and the P.R.C.,
contact between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has grown significantly
over the past decade. Taiwan has continued to relax restrictions
on unofficial contacts with the P.R.C., and cross-Strait interaction has
mushroomed.
Links
for More Information
CIA
World Factbook: Taiwan Government
The
Library of Congress Country Studies
.
Sources:
Central
Intelligence Agency
The
Library of Congress Country Studies |
