Editing Political status of Taiwan (section)

=== Post-WWII ===
In 1945 Chinese Nationalists accepted the surrender of the Japanese forces in Taiwan on behalf of the Allied powers, ending [[History of Taiwan#Japanese Empire (1895–1945)|50 years of Japanese rule]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name="britannica">{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Taiwan | title=Taiwan &#124; History, Flag, Map, Capital, Population, & Facts &#124; Britannica | date=14 June 2024 }}</ref> Confident about their future prospects, they declared Taiwan a province of China again on 26 October 1945.<ref name="Henckaerts1996c"/> However the final legal dispensation awaited a peace treaty and formal ratification.<ref name="britannica"/> 

In 1949, Mao Zedong's forces defeated Chiang Kai-shek's ROC forces in the [[Chinese Civil War]], thus taking control of mainland China and founding the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chiang Kai-shek and his [[Kuomintang]] government [[Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan|fled to Taiwan]], which was still under ROC control (as the CCP did not have a navy at that time). Tensions often soared in the following decades. The PRC [[Taiwan Strait Crises|shelled offshore islands held by Taiwan]] in the 1950s, and the ROC for a number of years harbored ambitions of recovering the mainland from the CCP.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chin |first=Josh |date=2022-05-23 |title=China and Taiwan Relations Explained: What's Behind the Divide |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-taiwan-relations-tensions-explained-11653322751 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-11-09 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=15 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915070317/https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-taiwan-relations-tensions-explained-11653322751 |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the United Nations and most non-Communist nations still recognized the ROC as the sole government of China. Non-Communist nations referred to the CCP-controlled mainland as "Red China" during this time.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

In 1971, the UN General Assembly [[UN General Assembly Resolution 2758|voted]] to move the "China" [[China and the United Nations|United Nations seat]] from the ROC to the PRC. The United States recognized the Kuomintang government in Taiwan (ROC) as the legitimate representative of all China until 1979.<ref name=":0" /> And the ROC itself claimed to be the sole legitimate representative of all China until 1988.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bulsara |first=Sanket |date=1995 |title=Out in the Cold: The Politics of Taiwan's Exclusion from the UN |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42761198 |journal=Harvard International Review |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=52–84 |jstor=42761198 |issn=0739-1854 |access-date=20 June 2023 |archive-date=20 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620161151/https://www.jstor.org/stable/42761198 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of the present, most nations have switched their official diplomatic recognition of "China" to the PRC, though some of these nations have avoided clarifying what territories are meant by "China" in order to associate with both the PRC and ROC. These countries use vague terms such as "respects", "acknowledge", "understand", or "take note of" in regards to the PRC's claim over Taiwan, rather than officially "recognizing" the claim.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lee|first=Tzu-wen|year=1996|title=The International Legal Status of the Republic of China on Taiwan|journal=UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs|volume=1|issue=2|pages=351–392|jstor=45302055}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Drun|first=Jessica|date=28 December 2017|title=One China, Multiple Interpretations|url=https://www.ccpwatch.org/single-post/2017/12/29/one-china-multiple-interpretations|website=Center for Advanced China Research|access-date=5 July 2023|archive-date=9 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309224301/https://www.ccpwatch.org/single-post/2017/12/29/One-China-Multiple-Interpretations|url-status=live}}</ref> From 1988 onwards the Government of Taiwan turned to a [[checkbook diplomacy]] promising economic support in return of diplomatic recognition.<ref name=":0" /> Until 1995, Taiwan was able to establish diplomatic ties with 29 countries.<ref name=":0" /> However this policy was stalled by the PRC as it suspended trade with any country that held diplomatic ties with Taiwan.<ref name=":0" />