Cross-strait relations in the context of "Chinese unification"

The Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (Chinese: 臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), also called Cross-Strait Act (Chinese: 兩岸條例), is the law of the Republic of China (Taiwan or ROC) governing cross-strait relations. In article 1, the act mentions its applicability in the period before national unification.

The main purpose of the act is to protect the security and welfare of the people of Taiwan. The act defines its de facto controlled territory as the Taiwan area, while at the same time affirming sovereignty over the Mainland area in article 2. It also provides a legal framework on the relations between Taiwan and mainland China without recognising the People's Republic of China (PRC) and its governmental organisations. It is enacted in accordance with Article 11 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China promulgated on 1 May 1991.

The Korean conflict is an ongoing conflict based on the division of Korea between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea), both of which claim to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. During the Cold War, North Korea was backed by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies, while South Korea was backed by the United States, United Kingdom, and other Western allies.

The division of Korea by the United States and the Soviet Union occurred in 1945 after the defeat of Japan ended Japanese rule of Korea, and both superpowers created separate governments in 1948. Tensions erupted into the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. When the war ended, both countries were devastated, but the division remained. North and South Korea continued a military standoff, with periodic clashes. The conflict survived the end of the Cold War and is still ongoing. It is now considered one of the 10 frozen conflicts of the world and is considered one of the oldest, along with the Sino-Taiwanese conflict.

The concept of Two Chinas refers to the political divide between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). Founded in 1912, the ROC governed mainland China until the Chinese Communist Party established the PRC in 1949, forcing the ROC to retreat to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War. Both are rival governments claiming to be the sole legitimate authority over all of China (One China), encompassing mainland China and Taiwan, and neither recognizes the other’s legitimacy.

Today, they operate as separate entities with different political systems and ideologies. The differences between the two Chinas are stark, with the PRC being a one-party communist state and the ROC a multi-party democracy after transitioning from one-party military rule. Both countries maintain separate diplomatic relations.

The One China principle is the official position of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the political status of Taiwan and cross-strait relations. The standard statement of the Government of the People's Republic of China on the One China Principle is as follows:

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the government of the People's Republic of China pursue Chinese unification based on this principle and have established it as a national policy through the CCP constitution, state constitution and the 2005 Anti-Secession Law. Guided by the principle, the government of the PRC opposes the Republic of China (Taiwan) from developing diplomatic relations with other countries in the world, or any relations of a state-to-state nature, and opposes Taiwan from participating in the United Nations system and other intergovernmental international organizations. It requires that Taiwan can only participate in non-governmental international organizations under names that do not carry national characteristics, such as "Chinese Taipei" or "Taiwan, China".

Taiwanese nationalism (Chinese: 臺灣民族主義，台湾民族主义; pinyin: Táiwān Mínzú Zhǔyì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân bîn-cho̍k-chú-gī) is a nationalist political movement that promotes the cultural identity and unity of Taiwanese people as a nation. In recent decades, it consists of cultural or political movements that seek to resolve the current political and social division on the issues of Taiwan's national identity, political status, and political dispute with China. It is closely linked to the Taiwan independence movement but distinguished from it in that the independence movement seeks to eventually establish an independent "Republic of Taiwan" in place of or out of the existing Republic of China and obtain United Nations and international recognition as a sovereign state, while nationalists seek only to establish or reinforce an independent Taiwanese identity that distinguishes Taiwanese people apart from the Chinese nation, without necessarily advocating changing the official name of the country.