Free Area of the Republic of China in the context of "Cross-Strait Act"

The Government of the Republic of China is the national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other island groups, collectively known as Taiwan Area or Free Area. A unitary state, the ROC government, under the current constitutional amendments, is run by a de facto semi-presidential system, consists of the presidency and five branches (Yuan): the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan, and Control Yuan. The president is the head of state, with the premier as the head of government, currently ruled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2016. Since the 2005 amendments of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the Legislative Yuan has been the de facto unicameral parliamentary body of the country.

Originally established in 1912 in Nanjing, the Government of the Republic of China relocated several times before finally moving to Taipei, Taiwan, in 1949 because of its military losses in the Chinese Civil War. Up until the 1990s, the government has historically been dominated by the Kuomintang (KMT) under the one-party state Dang Guo authoritarian regime, before evolving into a multi-party democracy after martial law and the climate of White Terror gradually ended. This government was the internationally recognized official government of China until 1971 by the United Nations and until 1979 by the United States.

Taiwanese people are the citizens and nationals of the Republic of China (ROC) and those who reside in an overseas diaspora from the entire Taiwan Area. The term also refers to natives or inhabitants of the island of Taiwan and its associated islands who may speak Sinitic languages (Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka) or the indigenous Taiwanese languages as a mother tongue but share a common culture and national identity. After the retreat of the Republic of China government to Taiwan in 1949, the actual-controlled territories of the government were limited to the main island of Taiwan and Penghu, whose administration were transferred from Japan in 1945, along with a few outlying islands in Fuchien Province which include Kinmen and Matsu Islands.

Taiwanese people as a demonym may broadly refer to the indigenous peoples of Kinmen and Matsu as they share the same national identity with people of Taiwan. However, the islanders of Kinmen and the Matsu may not consider the "Taiwanese" label to be accurate as these two islands are legally parts of Fuchien and not Taiwan. They maintain distinctive cultural identities from that of the Taiwanese, and prefer to be called "Kinmenese" and "Matsunese", respectively.