Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country called the Republic of China.
—Lai Ching-te, 15 August 2023[1]
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Republic of China independence (Chinese: 中華民國獨立; pinyin: zhōnghuá mínguó dúlì; Wade–Giles: Chung1hua2 Min2kuo2 tu2li4), abbreviated in Chinese as Huadu (Chinese: 華獨; pinyin: huá dú; Wade–Giles: hua2 tu2; lit. 'Chinese independence')[2] is a stance on the status of Taiwan that posits Taiwan and its outlying islands are presently an independent state (i.e. a distinct sovereign state from the People's Republic of China) under the name "Republic of China". Huadu supporters reject the One China principle, instead positing that:
The Taiwanese nationalist movement is largely divided into Huadu, which favors retaining "China" as part of the Taiwanese state's formal name to maintain legal ambiguity over the political status of Taiwan; and Taidu (Chinese: 台獨 or 臺獨; pinyin: tái dú), a syllabic abbreviation of "Taiwan independence" (Chinese: 台灣獨立 or 臺灣獨立; pinyin: táiwān dúlì) that proposes a more radical departure from the status quo by making a formal declaration of independence to create a de jure "Republic of Taiwan".[2] Huadu politics is generally favored by the moderate pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)[a] while more radical groups such as the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union favor a declaration of independence. DPP politicians such as Lai hold that Taiwan is already independent as the Republic of China.[4] DPP huadu supporters tend to see huadu politics as a pragmatic way to assert Taiwan's independence without unnecessarily aggravating the PRC government.[5][6]
In addition to independence activists, some politicians in the Kuomintang (KMT) party also support Huadu.[7] They generally oppose "one country, two systems" as well as further steps toward de jure independence.[8][9] 'Light blue' former KMT Chair Johnny Chiang insisted on the abolition of the 1992 Consensus which was based on "one China".[10]
Broadly speaking, they are divided into two camps: "Taiwan" independence (台獨 or 臺獨, taidu) and "Republic of China (ROC)" independence (華獨, huadu). The basic difference between the two is between renaming the country Taiwan or maintaining Taiwan as an independent nation under the ROC name and maintaining the constitution.
The question is whether the Lai administration will maintain this "Republic of China, Taiwan." If the new president chooses not to maintain it, then he will likely opt for so-called "Taiwanese independence" (台独), which says that Taiwan is Taiwan.
In contrast, the 2005 law designed to forestall Taiwanese 'secession', which also outlined a positive agenda aimed at convincing the Taiwanese of the benefits of peaceful unification, left out the third part.
In fact, Wang notes that in its latest political platform, the KMT simultaneously stated its opposition to both "Taiwan independence" and "one country, two systems."