Cross-strait relations

September 2, 2005 - The Taiwanese rebelled on 28 February 1947, but the uprising was violently suppressed by the KMT. The seeds of the Taiwan independence movement were sown during this period. China was soon engulfed in full-scale civil war. In 1949, the conflict turned decisively against the KMT in favor of the CCP.

Tensions between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) in the 1950s resulted in armed conflict over strategic islands in the Taiwan Strait. On two separate occasions during the 1950s, the PRC bombed islands controlled by the ROC.

The PRC views the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands as a part of “Taiwan province” and may seek to take the islands during a conflict. If the PLA Navy were to occupy Taiwan, the Council on Foreign Relations’ David Sacks argues that Japan would struggle to defend its westernmost islands, as well as the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and even Okinawa. During its August 2022 military exercise aimed at Taiwan, China launched ballistic missiles over Taiwan that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, in an attempt to warn Japan not to get involved during a Taiwan conflict.

Following President Lai’s National Day speech in October 2024, China launched a round of large-scale naval drills and war games near the Taiwan Strait, which served as a “stern warning” against “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces,” according to its military. A top concern among U.S. security analysts is that China’s growing military capabilities and assertiveness, as well as the deterioration in cross-strait relations, could spark a conflict that leads to a U.S.-China confrontation.

October 14, 2024 - There is disagreement about the status of Taiwan. It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces. Chiang's ROC government-in-exile at first claimed to represent the whole of China, which it intended to re-occupy.

Taiwan has always had a sense of connection but separation from the mainland. Of course, today, mainland China would stress the connection, and many people in Taiwan would stress the separation. Nonetheless, both sides come from a shared history, splitting at some key historical moments.

The two groups, superficially working together, successfully unified China from the warlords in 1928 but quickly plummeted into open violent conflict. Despite a brief period of cooperation against the occupying Japanese Army during the 1930s, fighting between the KMT and CCP continued throughout the Second World War. On December 1, 1943, the heads of state from China, the United States, and Great Britain jointly signed the "Cairo Declaration" stipulating that: "all the territories Japan has seized from China, such as Manchuria, Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, shall be restored to China."

Differences over Taiwan's status have flared tensions between China and Taiwan. China sees the island, which is governed independently, as a breakaway province.

3 weeks ago - The exercise rehearsed elements of a campaign to isolate Taiwan and was separately meant to intimidate and impose psychological pressure. PLA modernization: The US Department of Defense released its 2025 China Military Power Report, discussing major developments throughout 2024 and focusing primarily on PLA technological developments and Chinese posture toward Taiwan.

Xi has tied his legitimacy to putting the PRC on an irreversible path toward the “China Dream” of national rejuvenation by 2049 and unifying Taiwan with the motherland is deemed essential to that goal. Yet a military conflict over Taiwan would risk massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions, all of which could turn his dream into a nightmare and undermine his political authority.

January 8, 2024 - This was at the height of a decades-long conflict between Chiang's forces and Mao Zedong's Communist Party. When the communists won in 1949, Chiang and what was left of the nationalist party, known as the Kuomintang or KMT, fled to Taiwan...

As full-scale civil war rages in China between the Kuomintang-led ROC government and the Chinese Communist Party, the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion are enacted, ...

The issue of Taiwan, also known as the Taiwan Strait issue or the Taiwan-China conflict, involves the political status of Taiwan, a democratic island nation, and the People's Republic of China (PRC), which considers Taiwan a part of its territory

3 weeks ago - China’s military mobilized army, navy, air and rocket units around Taiwan for two days of military drills aimed at sending a “serious warning” against any push for Taiwanese independence and “external” forces interfering with the island.

1 week ago - Taiwan’s unification with China sits at the heart of President Xi Jinping’s ambitions. But the costs to Beijing of a conflict would be staggering — in lives lost, economic damage, military credibility and domestic stability. Still, none of this guarantees Xi won’t act.

January 11, 2024 - The fabric of political understandings that contributed to cross-strait peace and security for decades has begun to unravel as China’s power and assertiveness grows, competition between the U.S. and China spreads, and the Taiwanese people develop a distinct identity increasingly disassociated from the mainland. Why does it matter? A Chinese military offensive to take over Taiwan is unlikely in the near term, but conflict risks are rising.

3 days ago - The United States Department of Defense in a 2011 report stated that the primary mission of the PRC military is a possible military conflict with Taiwan, including also possible US military assistance. Although the risk of a crisis in the short-term is low, in the absence of new political developments, Taiwan will likely dominate future military modernization and planning. However, also other priorities are becoming increasingly prominent and possible due to increasing military resources. A number of mainland China's most advanced military systems are stationed in areas opposite Taiwan.

May 9, 2024 - Taiwan Strait crises, a series of confrontations between the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and the Republic of China (Taiwan; R.O.C.) across the Taiwan Strait that occurred from the 1950s through the early 2020s.

3 weeks ago - The Chinese military published a video on Monday showing warships being deployed as it announced drills in the Taiwan Strait · China is holding military drills around Taiwan simulating the seizure and blockade of the island's key areas, as a warning against "separatist forces".

2 weeks ago - Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday.