1. Since many people seem to get the different strains of reaction in Taiwan mixed up, I thought I'd make a thread clearing things up. One thing that both supporters and detractors of China have in common is when they speak on Taiwan, they tend to get many facts wrong.

2. One of the things I've seen pro-China people do is mixing up the positions of the old-school KMT (think Chiang Kai-shek) with the current separatists. Little do they know that until the 1980s, separatism was illegal.

3. They'll say things like "haha, Taiwan thinks it's the REAL China." This is not entirely accurate for many reasons. For one, nobody seriously claims that the "Republic of China" is the sole legitimate government of all of China anymore.

4. Secondly, per the "ROC" constitution itself, Taiwan is but a province of the "ROC." The "ROC" and Taiwan are not one and the same, though there are certainly overlaps. Hardline separatists want to abolish the "ROC" and establish a "Republic of Taiwan."

5. Meanwhile, the DPP, though branding itself as the pro-independence party, is in reality a status-quo party (like the KMT is today). What it does nowadays is blur the line between the "ROC" and Taiwan, and say that Taiwan is already an independent country called the "ROC."