TAIWAN                                                                          
GEOGRAPHY                                                                       
Total area: 35,980 km2; land area: 32,260 km2; includes the                     
Pescadores, Matsu, and Quemoy                                                   
                                                                                
Comparative area: slightly less than three times the size of                    
Connecticut                                                                     
                                                                                
Land boundaries: none                                                           
                                                                                
Coastline: 1,448 km                                                             
                                                                                
Maritime claims:                                                                
                                                                                
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;                                                
                                                                                
Territorial sea: 12 nm                                                          
                                                                                
Disputes: involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with             
China, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam; Paracel Islands occupied by          
China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; Japanese-administered                 
Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai) claimed by China and Taiwan          
                                                                                
Climate: tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon                
(June to August); cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year               
                                                                                
Terrain: eastern two-thirds mostly rugged mountains; flat to gently             
rolling plains in west                                                          
                                                                                
Natural resources: small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone,              
marble, and asbestos                                                            
                                                                                
Land use: arable land 24%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures             
5%; forest and woodland 55%; other 15%; irrigated 14%                           
                                                                                
Environment: subject to earthquakes and typhoons                                
                                                                                
PEOPLE                                                                          
Population: 20,658,702 (July 1991), growth rate 1.1% (1991)                     
                                                                                
Birth rate: 16 births/1,000 population (1991)                                   
                                                                                
Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1991)                                    
                                                                                
Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1991)                       
                                                                                
Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1,000 live births (19901                        
                                                                                
Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 78 years female (1991)                 
                                                                                
Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1991)                            
                                                                                
Nationality: noun--Chinese (sing., pl.); adjective--Chinese                     
                                                                                
Ethnic divisions: Taiwanese 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%             
                                                                                
Religion: mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%,                       
Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%                                                      
                                                                                
Language: Mandarin Chinese (official); Taiwanese and Hakka dialects             
also used                                                                       
                                                                                
Literacy: 91.2% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can                      
read and write (1990)                                                           
                                                                                
Labor force: 7,900,000; industry and commerce 53%, services 22%,                
agriculture 15.6%, civil administration 7% (1989)                               
                                                                                
Organized labor: 1,300,000 or about 18.4% (government controlled)               
(1983)                                                                          
                                                                                
@m2Administration                                                               
Long-form name: none                                                            
                                                                                
Type: one-party presidential regime; opposition political parties               
legalized in March, 1989                                                        
                                                                                
Capital: Taipei                                                                 
                                                                                
Administrative divisions: the authorities in Taipei claim to be the             
government of all China; in keeping with that claim, the central                
administrative divisions include 2 provinces (sheng, singular and plural)       
and 2 municipalities* (shih, singular and plural)--Fu-chien (some 20            
offshore islands of Fujian Province including Quemoy and Matsu),                
Kao-hsiung*, T'ai-pei*, and Taiwan (the island of Taiwan and the                
Pescadores islands); the more commonly referenced administrative                
divisions are those of Taiwan Province--16 counties (hsien, singular and        
plural), 5 municipalities* (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special           
municipalities** (chuan-shih, singular and plural); Chang-hua, Chia-i,          
Chia-i*, Chi-lung*, Hsin-chu, Hsin-chu*, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung,           
Kao-hsiung**, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu, P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung,              
T'ai-chung*, T'ai-nan, T'ai-nan*, T'ai-pei, T'ai-pei**, T'ai-tung,              
T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin; the provincial capital is at                            
Chung-hsing-hsin-ts'un; note--Taiwan uses the Wade-Giles system                 
for romanization                                                                
                                                                                
Constitution: 25 December 1947, presently undergoing revision                   
                                                                                
Legal system: based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ                 
jurisdiction, with reservations                                                 
                                                                                
National holiday: National Day (Anniversary of the Revolution),                 
10 October (1911)                                                               
                                                                                
Executive branch: president, vice president, premier of the                     
Executive Yuan, vice premier of the Executive Yuan, Executive Yuan              
                                                                                
Legislative branch: unicameral Legislative Yuan                                 
                                                                                
Judicial branch: Judicial Yuan                                                  
                                                                                
Leaders:                                                                        
                                                                                
Chief of State--President LI Teng-hui (since 13 January 1988);                  
Vice President LI Yuan-zu (since 20 May 1990);                                  
                                                                                
Head of Government--Premier (President of the Executive Yuan)                   
HAO Po-ts'un (since 2 May 1990); Vice Premier (Vice President of the            
Executive Yuan) SHIH Ch'i-yang (since NA July 1988)                             
Political parties and leaders:                                                  
Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), LI Teng-hui, chairman;                          
Democratic Socialist Party and Young China                                      
Party controlled by Kuomintang;                                                 
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP);                                             
Labor Party;                                                                    
27 other minor parties                                                          
                                                                                
Suffrage: universal at age 20                                                   
                                                                                
Elections:                                                                      
                                                                                
President--last held 21 March 1990 (next to be held March 1996);                
results--President LI Teng-hui was reelected by the National Assembly;          
                                                                                
Vice President--last held 21 March 1990                                         
(next to be held March 1996);                                                   
results--LI Yuan-zu was elected by the National Assembly;                       
                                                                                
Legislative Yuan--last held 2 December 1989 (next to be held                    
December 1992);                                                                 
results--KMT 65%, DPP 33%, independents 2%;                                     
seats--(304 total, 102 elected) KMT 78, DPP 21, independents 3;                 
                                                                                
National Assembly:--originally elected in November 1947 (last                   
supplementary election in December 1986; Assembly will be completely            
reelected in December 1991)                                                     
                                                                                
Member of: expelled from UN General Assembly and Security                       
Council on 25 October 1971 and withdrew on same date from other                 
charter-designated subsidiary organs; expelled from IMF/World Bank group        
April/May 1980; seeking to join GATT; attempting to retain membership in        
INTELSAT; suspended from IAEA in 1972, but still allows IAEA controls           
over extensive atomic development; AsDB, ICC, ICFTU, IOC                        
                                                                                
Diplomatic representation: none; unofficial commercial and cultural             
relations with the people of the US are maintained through a private            
instrumentality, the Coordination Council for North American Affairs            
(CCNAA) with headquarters in Taipei and field offices in Washington and         
10 other US cities with all addresses and telephone numbers NA;                 
                                                                                
US--unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people of             
Taiwan are maintained through a private institution, the American               
Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which has offices in Taipei at #7 Lane 134,          
telephone  886  (2) 709-2000, and in Kao-hsiung at #2 Chung Cheng 3d            
Road, telephone  886  (7) 224-0154 through 0157, and the American Trade         
Center at Room 3207 International Trade Building, Taipei World Trade            
Center, 333 Keelung Road Section 1, Taipei 10548, telephone  886  (2)           
720-1550                                                                        
                                                                                
Flag: red with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner             
bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays                                     
                                                                                
ECONOMY                                                                         
Overview: Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with considerable             
government guidance of investment and foreign trade and partial                 
government ownership of some large banks and industrial firms. Real             
growth in GNP has averaged about 9% a year during the past three decades.       
Export growth has been even faster and has provided the impetus for             
industrialization. Agriculture contributes about 4% to GNP, down from 35%       
in 1952. Taiwan currently ranks as number 13 among major trading                
countries. Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being            
replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries.                
                                                                                
GNP: $150.8 billion, per capita $7,380; real growth rate                        
5.2% (1990)                                                                     
                                                                                
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.4% (1990)                                   
                                                                                
Unemployment rate: 1.7% (1990)                                                  
                                                                                
Budget: revenues $30.3 billion; expenditures $30.1 billion,                     
including capital expenditures of $NA (FY91 est.)                               
                                                                                
Exports: $67.2 billion (f.o.b., 1990);                                          
                                                                                
commodities--textiles 15.6%, electrical machinery 18.2%, general                
machinery and equipment 14.8%, basic metals and metal products 7.8%,            
foodstuffs 1.7%, plywood and wood products 1.6% (1989);                         
                                                                                
partners--US 36.2%, Japan 13.7% (1989)                                          
                                                                                
Imports: $54.7 billion (c.i.f., 1990);                                          
                                                                                
commodities--machinery and equipment 15.3%, crude oil 5%, chemical              
and chemical products 11.1%, basic metals 13.0%, foodstuffs 2.2% (1989);        
                                                                                
partners--Japan 31%, US 23%, FRG 5% (1989)                                      
                                                                                
External debt: $1.1 billion (December 1990 est.)                                
                                                                                
Industrial production: growth rate 4.7% (1990 est.)                             
                                                                                
Electricity: 17,000,000 kW capacity; 68,000 million kWh produced,               
3,310 kWh per capita (1990)                                                     
                                                                                
Industries: electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing,                         
food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, petroleum        
                                                                                
Agriculture: accounts for 4% of GNP and 16% of labor force                      
(includes part-time farmers); heavily subsidized sector; major                  
crops--vegetables, rice, fruit, tea; livestock--hogs, poultry, beef,            
milk, cattle; not self-sufficient in wheat, soybeans, corn; fish catch          
increasing, 1.4 million metric tons (1988)                                      
                                                                                
Economic aid: US, including Ex-Im (FY46-82), $4.6 billion; Western              
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $445           
million                                                                         
                                                                                
Currency: New Taiwan dollar (plural--dollars);                                  
1 New Taiwan dollar (NT$) = 100 cents                                           
                                                                                
Exchange rates: New Taiwan dollars per US$1--27.2 (January 1991),               
27.243 (November 1990), 26.407 (1989), 28.589 (1988), 31.845 (1987),            
37.838 (1986), 39.849 (1985)                                                    
                                                                                
Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June                                                     
                                                                                
COMMUNICATIONS                                                                  
Railroads: about 4,600 km total track with 1,075 km common                      
carrier lines and 3,525 km industrial lines; common carrier lines               
consist of the 1.067-meter gauge 708 km West Line and the 367 km East           
Line; a 98.25 km South Link Line connection is under construction; common       
carrier lines owned by the government and operated by the Railway               
Administration under Ministry of Communications; industrial lines owned         
and operated by government enterprises                                          
                                                                                
Highways: 20,041 km total; 17,095 km bituminous or concrete,                    
2,371 km crushed stone or gravel, 575 km graded earth                           
                                                                                
Pipelines: 615 km refined products, 97 km natural gas                           
                                                                                
Ports: Kao-hsiung, Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Su-ao, T'ai-tung               
                                                                                
Merchant marine: 226 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,557,167               
GRT/9,153,646 DWT; includes 1 short-sea passenger, 52 cargo, 17                 
refrigerated cargo, 75 container, 15 petroleum, oils, and lubricants            
(POL) tanker, 3 combination ore/oil, 1 specialized tanker, 62 bulk              
                                                                                
Airports: 38 total, 37 usable; 33 with permanent-surface runways;               
3 with runways over 3,659 m; 16 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 8 with              
runways 1,220-2,439 m                                                           
                                                                                
Telecommunications: best developed system in Asia outside of Japan;             
7,800,000 telephones; extensive microwave transmission links on east and        
west coasts; stations--91 AM, 23 FM, 15 TV (13 relays); 8,620,000               
radios; 6,386,000 TVs (5,680,000 color, 706,000 monochrome);                    
earth stations--1 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean                     
INTELSAT; submarine cable links to Japan (Okinawa), the Philippines,            
Guam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Middle East, and              
Western Europe                                                                  
                                                                                
DEFENSE FORCES                                                                  
Branches: Army, Navy (including Marines), Air Force, Taiwan                     
Garrison Command, Ministry of National Defense                                  
                                                                                
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 5,874,345; 4,577,294 fit for                
military service; about 187,807 currently reach military age (19)               
annually                                                                        
