g form: none
former: Formosa

Government type:
multiparty democratic regime headed by popularly-elected president
and unicameral legislature

Capital:
Taipei

Administrative divisions:
includes central island of Taiwan plus numerous smaller islands
near central island and off coast of China's Fujian Province; Taiwan
is divided into 18 counties (hsien, singular and plural), 5
municipalities (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special
municipalities (chuan-shih, singular and plural)
: counties: Chang-hua, Chia-i, Hsin-chu, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung
county, Kin-men, Lien-chiang, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu,
P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan, T'ai-pei county, T'ai-tung,
T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin
: municipalities: Chia-i, Chi-lung, Hsin-chu, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan
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
: special municipalities: Kao-hsiung city, T'ai-pei city

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) YEH Chu-lan (since 20 May 2004)
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%
cabinet: Executive Yuan appointed by the president

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,