, Hsin-chu, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan
: special municipalities: Kao-hsiung city, T'ai-pei city
note: Taiwan generally uses Wade-Giles system for romanization;
special municipality of Taipei adopted standard pinyin romanization
for street and place names within city boundaries, other local
authorities have selected a variety of romanization systems

National holiday:
Republic Day (Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution), 10 October
(1911)

Constitution:
25 December 1946; amended in 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, and 2000

Legal system:
based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction,
with reservations

Suffrage:
20 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President CHEN Shui-bian (since 20 May 2000) and
Vice President Annette LU (LU Hsiu-lien) (since 20 May 2000)
head of government: Premier (President of the Executive Yuan) Frank
HSIEH (since 1 February 2005) and Vice Premier (Vice President of
the Executive Yuan) - WU Rong-i) (since 18 February 2005)
cabinet: Executive Yuan appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket
by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 20 March
2004 (next to be held in March 2008); premier appointed by the
president; vice premiers appointed by the president on the
recommendation of the premier
election results: CHEN Shui-bian re-elected president; percent of
vote - CHEN Shui-bian (DPP) 50.1%, LIEN Chan (KMT) 49.9%

Legislative branch:
unicameral Legislative Yuan (225 seats - 168 elected by popular
vote, 41 elected on basis of proportion of islandwide votes received
by participating political parties, 8 elected from overseas Chinese
constituencies on basis of proportion of island-wide votes received
by participating political parties, 8 elected by popular vote among
aboriginal populations; members serve three-year terms) and
unicameral National Assembly (300 seat nonstanding body; delegates
nominated by parties and elected by proportional representation six
to nine months after Legislative Yuan calls to amend Constitution,
impeach president, or change national borders)
note: as a result of constitutional amendments approved by the
National Assembly on 7 June 2005, the number of seats in the
legislature will be reduced from 225 to 113 beginning with the
election in 2007; the amendments also eliminate the National
Assembly, thu