For decades, the Taiwanese passport didn’t say “Taiwan” at all. It said something else: Republic of China. But if Taiwan has called itself China, who can be the “real” China?
This video traces the evolution of Taiwan’s identity through one simple thing: its passport. From the annexation of the Republic of China from the United Nations, to President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Communist China in 1972, to the 2003 addition of the word “Taiwan” to the passport of the Republic of China, the story of “One China” is less about geography and more about the history, power, and evolution of international cooperation.
As Beijing becomes more and more powerful financially and politically on today’s global stage, is it possible for Taiwan to hold on to its independence? And what is the role of the United States in the settlement between Beijing and Taipei, especially as Taiwan’s main arms dealer?
Read more about Taiwan and the “One China” concept:
- Many “One Chinas”: Multiple Approaches to Taiwan and China: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/02/the-many-one-chinas-multiple-approaches-to-taiwan-and-china?lang=en
- The Fall of One China: https://www.csis.org/analysis/collapse-one-china
- Do the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations “return” Taiwan to China?: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/afcl/fact-check-potsdam-05082023093502.html
- Tracking China’s Increased Military Activity in the Indo-Pacific in 2025: https://chinapower.csis.org/china-increased-military-activities-indo-pacific-2025/
- Most people in Taiwan consider themselves Taiwanese; a few say they are Chinese: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/16/most-people-in-taiwan-see-themselves-as-primarily-taiwanese-few-say-theyre-primarily-chinese/
- How Taiwan came to dominate the global chip industry: https://theconversation.com/how-taiwan-came-to-dominate-the-global-chip-industry-276939
- US Military Aid to Taiwan in Five Charts: https://www.cfr.org/articles/us-military-support-taiwan-five-charts
- Americans and Taiwanese Prefer the Status Quo: https://globalaffairs.org/research/public-opinion-survey/americans-and-taiwanese-favor-status-quo
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