Taiwan

American  

[tahy-wahn] / ˈtaɪˈwɑn /

noun

Wade-Giles, Pinyin.

1. an island separated from the southeast coast of China by the Taiwan Strait: a possession of Japan 1895–1945; restored to China 1945; seat of the Republic of China since 1949. Taipei.

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Taiwan British  

/ ˈtaɪˈwɑːn /

noun

1. Former name: Formosa.  an island in SE Asia between the East China Sea and the South China Sea, off the SE coast of the People's Republic of China: the principal territory of the Republic of China; claimed by the People's Republic of China since its political separation from mainland China in the late 1940s. Pop: 23 299 716 (2013 est)

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Taiwan Cultural  

1. Island nation in the Pacific Ocean near the mainland of southern China; seat of the Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Taipei.

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With its first free elections in the 1990s, Taiwan has become a democracy. Its economy is among the strongest in the world.

The United States long supported the Nationalists but broke relations in 1979 to establish relations with the People's Republic of China.

China refuses to accept Taiwan's independence as a nation, viewing it instead as merely a renegade province of China. This issue continues to complicate relations between the United States and China.

When the Chinese communists came to power on the mainland, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and some of his army took refuge on Taiwan.

Etymology

Origin of Taiwan

First recorded in 1920–25; from Chinese (Mandarin) Táiwān

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Taiwan

Taiwan has previously blamed Chinese hackers for carrying out most of the millions of cyberattacks affecting the island democracy on a daily basis, but did not identify a particular country in this latest incident.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

China regularly sends coast guard vessels into waters around Taiwan along with its naval vessels, which have been a persistent presence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The digital affairs ministry's statement was in response to a Financial Times article this week that identified Taiwan as the target of an autonomous AI attack by suspected Chinese hackers.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

He believes Taiwan should maintain its current status—preserving democracy and de facto independence without making any changes that would trigger a Chinese invasion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

This linguistic evidence regarding the culture of Proto-Austronesians, wherever and whenever they lived, agrees well with the archaeological evidence regarding the pottery-making, sea-oriented, food-producing people living on Taiwan around 6,000 years ago.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond