Free area of the Republic of China
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Free area of the Republic of China 中華民國自由地區 .台湾 |
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Free area of the Republic of China | |
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BUC | Dài-Pàng-Gĭng-Mā |
Taiwan portal |
The free area of the Republic of China,[I] also known as the "Taiwan Area of the Republic of China", the "Tai-Min Area (Taiwan and Fuchien)" or simply the "Taiwan Area", is a term used by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to refer to the territories under its actual control.[1][2] It is also used as a legal term written in the Additional articles of the ROC constitution and Cross-Strait Act.
The area currently under the definition consists of the island groups of
The term is complementary to "Mainland Area",[4] which is practically viewed as being synonymous to mainland China,[5] despite the fact that the ROC constitution never defined specific territorial boundaries.[6][7]
Background
The term "free area" or "
The Japanese occupation ended with the
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 Area | Taiwan Area | Tai-Peng-Kin-Ma Area | Tai-Min Region |
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Long name | Free Area of the Republic of China[I] | Taiwan Area[II] | 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 dìqū | Táiwān dìqū | Tái-Pēng-Jīn-Mǎ dìqū | Tái-Mǐn dìqū |
Taiwanese Hokkien | Chū-iû tē-khu | Tâi-oân tē-khu | Tâi-Phêⁿ-Kim-Má tē-khu | Tâi-Bân tē-khu |
Hakka | Chhṳ-yù thi-khî | Thòi-vàn thi-khî | Thòi-Phàng-Kîm-Mâ thi-khî | Thòi-Mén thi-khî |
Matsunese | Cê̤ṳ-iù dê-kṳ̆ | Dài-uăng dê-kṳ̆ | Dài-Pàng-Gĭng-Mā dê-kṳ̆ | Dài-Mìng dê-kṳ̆ |
Notes | "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 ). 閩 is the traditional abbreviation for Fukien. |
Legal use
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 put into 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
While the 1991 revisions of the Constitution granted the sovereignty rights to the
In addition, there are two other Acts defining other "areas": the "
Use by People's Republic of China
Based on the
Administrative divisions
Republic of China | |||||
Free area[i] | Mainland area[ii] | ||||
Special municipalities[α][iii] | Provinces[iv] | Not administered[v] | |||
Counties[α]
|
Autonomous municipalities[α][vi] | ||||
Districts[β] | Mountain indigenous districts[α] |
County- administered cities[α] |
Townships[α][β][vii] | Districts[β] | |
Villages[γ][viii] | |||||
Neighborhoods |
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Has an elected executive and an elected legislative council.
- ^ a b c Has an appointed district administrator for managing local affairs and carrying out tasks commissioned by superior agency.
- ^ Has an elected village administrator for managing local affairs and carrying out tasks commissioned by superior agency.
See also
- Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China
- Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China
- Constitution of the Republic of China
- History of the Republic of China
- Kuomintang
- Mainland China
- Politics of the Republic of China
- Soviet Zone / Liberated Zone
- Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China
Notes
- ^ Also known as the Taiwan area or Tai–Min area (Chinese: 臺閩地區; lit. 'Taiwan–Fujian area')
- ^ The mainland area consists of Mainland China, Tibet and (previously) Outer Mongolia
- ^ Special municipalities, cities, and county-administered cities are all called shi (Chinese: 市; lit. 'city')
- ^ Nominal; provincial governments have been abolished
- ^ Constitutionally having the same structure as the free area, these are currently under the Chinese Communist Party control with a different structure
- ^ Sometimes called cities (Chinese: 市) or provincial cities (Chinese: 省轄市) to distinguish them from special municipalities and county-administered cities
- ^ There are two types of townships: rural townships or xīang (Chinese: 鄉) and urban townships or zhèn (Chinese: 鎮)
- ^ Villages in rural townships are known as tsūn (Chinese: 村), those in other jurisdictions are known as lǐ (Chinese: 里)
- Words in native languages
References
- ^ "Laws and Regulations Regarding Mainland Affairs". mac.gov.tw. Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan. 17 September 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
Article 2: The following terms as used in this Act are defined below.1. "Taiwan Area" refers to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and any other area under the effective control of the Government.2. "Mainland Area" refers to the territory of the Republic of China outside the Taiwan Area.3. "People of the Taiwan Area" refers to the people who have household registrations in the Taiwan Area.4. "People of the Mainland Area" refers to the people who have household registrations in the Mainland Area
- Republic of China. Retrieved on 7 April 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-7656-0792-8. Archivedfrom the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Chen Wei-han (8 June 2016). "NPP to push constitutional reforms". Taipei Times. Taipei. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
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.
- ISBN 978-0520961562. Archivedfrom the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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.
- ^ 《中華民國憲法》第四條
- ^ 廖顯謨 (2017). "疆域與國家認同:我國憲法第四條「固有疆域」之探究" (PDF). 高苑學報. 22: 156–162. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
在台灣,國人對我國疆域範圍的認知,可謂真的是「各自表述」…
- ^ "Taiwan appoints new chief administrator". People's Daily. 3 December 2014. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2022.