Free area of the Republic of China

The free area of the Republic of China[upper-roman 1] is a term used by the government of the Republic of China (ROC) to refer to the territories under its actual control.[1] The area under the definition consists of the island groups of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and some minor islands. This term is used in the "Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China". As the island of Taiwan is the main component of the whole area, it is also referred to as the "Taiwan Area of the Republic of China" or simply the "Taiwan Area". The term "Tai-Peng-Kin-Ma" is also essentially equivalent except that it only refers to the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu Area, to the exclusion of the South China Sea possessions－Dongsha Islands and Taiping Island.[2]

"Taiwan Area" redirects here. For "Taiwan Area" as used by People's Republic of China, see Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China § Taiwan Province and Taiwan Area (PRC Perspective).

Free area of the Republic of China

中華民國自由地區[upper-roman 1]
Largest citiesNew Taipei
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Taipei
LanguagesMandarin
Taiwanese Hokkien
Hakka
Formosan languages
Matsunese
Ethnic groups
Han Taiwanese
Taiwanese indigenous peoples
Demonym(s)Taiwanese
Chinese
Area
• Total
36,193 km2 (13,974 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 census
23,681,968
• Density
650/km2 (1,683.5/sq mi)
CurrencyNew Taiwan Dollar (TWD, NTD)
Time zoneUTC+08:00 (National Standard Time)
Driving sideright
Calling code+886
ISO 3166 codeTW
Internet TLD.tw, .台灣, .台湾
Free area of the
Republic of China
Traditional Chinese中華民國自由地區
Simplified Chinese中华民国自由地区
Taiwan area
Traditional Chinese臺灣地區
Simplified Chinese台湾地区
Tai-Peng-Kin-Ma
Traditional Chinese臺澎金馬
Simplified Chinese台澎金马
Taiwan
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politics and government of
the Republic of China
 Taiwan portal

The term is complementary to "Mainland Area",[3] which is practically viewed as being synonymous to mainland China.[4]

Background

The term "free area" or "Free China" was used during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) to describe the territories under the control of the Kuomintang led Nationalist Government in Chungking (today Chongqing), as opposed to the parts of China under Japanese occupation, including Nanking (today Nanjing) the capital of the Republic of China until the Japanese invasion in 1937.

The Japanese occupation ended with the imperial surrender in 1945, but the term "Free China" was soon to acquire a new meaning in the context of the early Cold War. Following the Communist Party's victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the newly inaugurated People's Republic of China solidified its control of mainland China, while the Kuomintang government retreated to Taiwan and selected Taipei to serve as the provisional capital of the Republic of China. Mainland China was officially considered to be in a state of "Communist Rebellion", and furthermore all territories still under Nationalist administration were said to constitute the "Free Area" of China. This "Period of Communist Rebellion" was officially terminated by the government in 1 May 1991 with the implementation of the Additional Articles of the Constitution.

Prior to the Battle of Dachen Archipelago in 1955, the Free Area also encompassed a group of islands off Zhejiang, up to then part of the ROC province of Chekiang. The islands have since been administered exclusively by the People's Republic of China.

Nomenclature

Various names used to describe the geopolitical area include:

Short name The Free AreaTaiwan AreaTai-Peng-Kin-Ma AreaTai-Min Region
Long name Free Area of the Republic of China[upper-roman 1]Taiwan Area[upper-roman 2]Taiwan-Penghu-
Kinmen-Matsu Area		Taiwan-Fukien Region
Chinese 自由地區臺灣地區臺澎金馬地區臺閩地區
Mandarin Zìyóu dìqūTáiwān dìqūTái-Pēng-Jīn-Mǎ dìqūTái-Mǐn dìqū
Taiwanese Chū-iû tē-khuTâi-oân tē-khuTâi-Phêⁿ-Kim-Má tē-khuTâi-Bân tē-khu
Hakka Chhṳ-yù thi-khîThòi-vàn thi-khîThòi-Phàng-Kîm-Mâ thi-khîThòi-Mén thi-khî
Matsunese Cê̤ṳ-iù dê-kṳ̆Dài-uăng dê-kṳ̆Dài-Pàng-Gĭng-Mā dê-kṳ̆Dài-Mìng dê-kṳ̆
Note "Free" refers to the area that is not under the Communist Party's control. This term is used by the Additional Articles of the Constitution. Refers to the general area surrounding the island of Taiwan. This term is used by various laws and regulations that governing cross-Strait relations. Refers to the four main archipelagos under the government's jurisdiction. Refers to the two historical provinces under actual administration. Namely, Taiwan (Taiwan and Penghu) and a small part of Fukien (Kinmen and Matsu). 閩 is the traditional abbreviation for Fukien.
With President Chiang Kai-shek, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to onlookers during his visit to Taipei, Taiwan, in June 1960.

The term "free area of the Republic of China" has persisted to the present day in the ROC legislation. The Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China delegates numerous rights to exercise the sovereignty of the state, including that of electing the President and Legislature, to citizens residing in the "free area of the Republic of China". This term was first used in the Constitution with the promulgation of the first set of amendments to the Constitution in 1991 and has been retained in the most recent revision passed in 2005.

The need to use the term "free area" in the Constitution arose out of the discrepancy between the notion that the Republic of China was the sole legitimate government of China and the pressures of the popular sovereignty movement. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were demands, particularly by the Tangwai movement and other groups opposed to one-party authoritarian KMT rule, to restructure the ROC government, long dominated by mainlanders, to be more representative of the Taiwanese people it governed. For example, until 1991, members of the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan elected in 1948 to serve mainland constituencies remained in their posts indefinitely and the President of the Republic of China was to be elected by this same "ten thousand year parliament" (Chinese: 萬年國會) dominated by aging KMT members. However, more conservative politicians, while acquiescing to the need for increased democracy, feared that constitutional changes granting localized sovereignty would jeopardize the ROC government's claims as the legitimate Chinese government and thereby promote Taiwan independence.

While the 1991 revisions of the Constitution granted the sovereignty rights to the Taiwanese people, it did not explicitly name Taiwan and instead used the term "free area" to maintain the notion that the Republic of China encompassed more than Taiwan. In ordinary legislation, the term "Taiwan Area" is usually used, especially in contexts of trade and exchange. In contrast to the "free area" is the "mainland area", which the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area defines as "the territory of the Republic of China outside the Taiwan Area". However, on more practical grounds, the "mainland area" refers simply to Mainland China.

In addition, there are two other Acts defining other "areas": the "Hong Kong and Macau Area" (Chinese: 港澳地區). The hand-over of these former European colonies to the People's Republic of China necessitated laws governing the relations of the Taiwan Area with them. The Acts are worded in a manner to avoid discussing whether the Republic of China claims sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macau.

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See also
Overview of administrative divisions of Taiwan
Republic of China
Free area[lower-roman 1] Mainland area
Special municipalities[G][lower-roman 2] Provinces[lower-roman 3] Not administered
Counties[G] Cities[G][lower-roman 4]
Districts[O] Mountain indigenous districts[G] Townships/cities[G][lower-roman 5] Districts[O]
Villages[O][lower-roman 6]
Neighborhoods
Notes
[G] Has an administrative body with an elected leader and a legislative body with elected members
[O] Has a governmental office for managing local affairs and carrying out commissioned tasks by superior agency

Notes
  1. Also known as the Taiwan area or Tai–Min area (Chinese: 臺閩地區; lit.: 'Taiwan–Fujian area')
  2. In Chinese, special municipalities, cities, and county-administered cities have the word shi (Chinese: 市; lit.: 'city') in their official names
  3. Nominal; provincial governments have been abolished
  4. Cities are sometimes called provincial cities (Chinese: 省轄市) to distinguish them from the other two types of cities.
  5. In Chinese, there are two types of townships: xīang (Chinese: 鄉) and zhèng (Chinese: 鎮); there is little practical difference between the two
  6. In Chinese, villages of xīang townships are known as tsūn (Chinese: 村), those of other types are known as lǐ (Chinese: 里)

Words in native languages

References
  1. "The Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China Archived 12 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine." Republic of China. Retrieved on 7 April 2009.
  2. Corcuff, Stéphane; Edmondson, Robert (2002). Memories of the Future: National Identity Issues and the Search for a New Taiwan. M.E. Sharpe. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7656-0792-8.
  3. Chen Wei-han (8 June 2016). "NPP to push constitutional reforms". Taipei Times. Taipei. An amendment made to the Constitution in 1991 “to meet the requisites prior to national unification” recognizes the “Chinese mainland area” as opposed to the “free area,” and both areas make up the Republic of China.
  4. Sara L. Friedman (2015). Exceptional States: Chinese Immigrants and Taiwanese Sovereignty. Oakland, California: University of California Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0520961562. The Act's use of the spatial language of "area" was a direct reference to the postwar ROC Constitution, which had created two classes of Chinese based on politically differentiated, territorial criteria: those of the "free area," which included Taiwan and the scattered smaller islands under post-1949 ROC control, and those of the "mainland area," who presumably were not free because they lived under Communist rule.
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