Taiwan Government

What is the capital of Taiwan?

Country Name	Taiwan
Full Country Name	none
Local - Long	none
Local - Short	Taiwan
Former Name	Formosa
Etymology- history of name	"Tayowan" was the name of the coastal sandbank where the Dutch erected their colonial headquarters on the island in the 17th century; the former name "Formosa" means "beautiful" in Portuguese
Government Type	semi-presidential republic
Capital Name	Taipei
Capital - geographic coordinate	25 02 N, 121 31 E
Capital Time Difference	UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
National Holiday	Republic Day (National Day), 10 October (1911); note - celebrates the anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, also known as Double Ten (10-10) Day
Constitution	history: previous 1912, 1931; latest adopted 25 December 1946, promulgated 1 January 1947, effective 25 December 1947 amendments: proposed by at least one fourth of the Legislative Yuan membership; passage requires approval by at least three-fourths majority vote of at least three fourths of the Legislative Yuan membership and approval in a referendum by more than half of eligible voters; revised several times, last in 2005

Taiwan Capital City Map

Source: Google Maps

Taiwan Government and Politics

Who is the president of Taiwan?

Executive Branch:	chief of state: President TSAI Ing-wen (since 20 May 2016); Vice President LAI Ching-te (since 20 May 2020) head of government: Premier CHEN Chien-jen (President of the Executive Yuan) (since 31 January 2023); Vice Premier CHENG Wen-tsan (Vice President of the Executive Yuan) (since 31 January 2023) cabinet: Executive Yuan - ministers appointed by president on recommendation of premier elections/appointments: president and vice president directly elected on the same ballot by simple majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 13 January 2024 (next to be held in 2028); premier appointed by the president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the premier election results: 2023: LAI Ching-te elected president; percent of vote - LAI Ching-te (DPP) 40.1%, HOU Yu-ih (KMT) 33.5%, KO Wen-je (TPP) 26.5%; note - LAI takes office on 20 May 2024 2020: TSAI Ing-wen reelected president; percent of vote - TSAI Ing-wen (DPP) 57.1%, HAN Kuo-yu (KMT) 38.6%, James SOONG (PFP) 4.3%; note - TSAI is the first woman elected president of Taiwan
Citizenship Criteria:	citizenship by birth: no citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Taiwan dual citizenship recognized: yes, except that citizens of Taiwan are not recognized as dual citizens of the People's Republic of China residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years
Legal System:	civil law system
Suffrage:	20 years of age; universal; note - in March 2022, the Legislative Yuan approved lowering the voting age to 18, but the change will require a constitutional amendment that must be submitted to a referendum
Legislative Branch:	description: unicameral Legislative Yuan (113 seats; 73 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 34 directly elected in a single island-wide constituency by proportional representation vote, and 6 directly elected in multi-seat aboriginal constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms) elections: last held on 13 January 2024 (next to be held in 2028) election results: percent of vote by party - DPP 40.6%, KMT 37.2%, TPP 12.6%, other 5.7%, independent 3.9%; seats by party - KMT 52, DPP 51, TPP 8, independent 2; composition as of February 2024 - men 66, women 47, percentage women 41.6%
Judicial Branch:	highest court(s): Supreme Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and approximately 100 judges organized into civil and criminal panels, each with a chief justice and 4 associate justices); Constitutional Court (consists of the court president, vice president, and 13 justices) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court justices appointed by the president; Constitutional Court justices appointed by the president, with approval of the Legislative Yuan; Supreme Court justices serve for life; Constitutional Court justices appointed for 8-year terms, with half the membership renewed every 4 years subordinate courts: high courts; district courts; hierarchy of administrative courts
Regions or States:	includes main island of Taiwan plus smaller islands nearby and off coast of China's Fujian Province; Taiwan is divided into 13 counties (xian, singular and plural), 3 cities (shi, singular and plural), and 6 special municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the Executive Yuan counties: Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Hualien, Kinmen, Lienchiang, Miaoli, Nantou, Penghu, Pingtung, Taitung, Yilan, Yunlin cities: Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung special municipalities: Kaohsiung (city), New Taipei (city), Taichung (city), Tainan (city), Taipei (city), Taoyuan (city) note: Taiwan uses a variety of romanization systems; while a modified Wade-Giles system still dominates, the city of Taipei has adopted a Pinyin romanization for street and place names within its boundaries; other local authorities use different romanization systems
Political Parties and Leaders:	Democratic Progressive Party or DPP [LAI Ching-te] Kuomintang or KMT (Nationalist Party) [Eric CHU Li-luan] Taiwan People's Party or TPP [KO Wen-je] note: the DPP and the KMT are the two major political parties; more than 30 parties garnered votes in the 2024 election
International Law Organization Participation:	has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt
International Organization Participation:	ADB (Chinese Taipei), APEC (Chinese Taipei), BCIE, CABEI, IOC, ITUC (NGOs), SICA (observer), WTO (Chinese Taipei) note - separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu
Diplomatic Representation in the US:	chief of mission: none; commercial and cultural relations with its citizens in the US are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic posts, represented by HSIAO Bi-khim (since 20 July 2020); office: 4201 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016; telephone: [1] (202) 895-1800; fax: [1] (202) 363-0999 Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices (branch offices): Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver (CO), Houston, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle
Diplomatic Representation from US:	chief of mission: the US does not have an embassy in Taiwan; commercial and cultural relations with the people of Taiwan are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private nonprofit corporation that performs citizen and consular services similar to those at diplomatic posts; it is managed by Director Sandra OUDKIRK (since July 2021) mailing address: 4170 AIT Taipei Place, Washington DC 20521-4170 telephone: [886] 2-2162-2000 FAX: [886] 2-2162-2251 email address and website: TaipeiACS@state.gov https://www.ait.org.tw/ branch office(s): American Institute in Taiwan No. 100, Jinhu Road, Neihu District 11461, Taipei City other offices: Kaohsiung (Branch Office)

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