Key dates in Taiwan’s history: A contested island's evolution

BEIJING (AP) — As China staged live-fire military drills around Taiwan featuring aircraft, warships and rocket launches, the Chinese foreign minister reiterated Beijing’s aim to achieve “ complete reunification ” with the island it claims as its own.

Taipei pushes back against those sovereignty claims. Taiwan, it says, never belonged to China in its current constitutional and political form — and has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Taiwan's history is one that includes myriad phases, rulers and squabbles. Here are some key periods and dates in the contested island’s history:

1600s to 1885: Colonization and Chinese rule

In the 1600s, Dutch and Spanish colonizers compete for control of the subtropical island known then as Formosa, home to Indigenous populations as well as some Han Chinese migrants. The Dutch East India Company establishes a base in southern Taiwan, near today’s city of Tainan, while Spanish colonizers set up forts in the north.

The Dutch eventually expel the Spanish before being defeated in 1662 by Koxinga, a military leader loyal to China’s Ming dynasty.

In 1684, the Qing dynasty, newly in power, incorporates the island as part of China’s Fujian province. In 1885, Taiwan is declared a stand-alone Chinese province under the control of Han Chinese governors.

1895: Japanese takeover

The Qing dynasty loses an eight-month war against Japan. The Qing’s Emperor Guangxu cedes Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan, beginning five decades of sometimes brutal Japanese colonial rule.

1945: Japan surrenders

Japan surrenders at the end of World War II and cedes Taiwan to the Republic of China, then under the control of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party. The KMT rules out of the capital Nanjing, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Shanghai. The Nationalists are intermittently fighting against the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong.

1949: Nationalists establish self-rule

The Nationalists lose the war against the Communists and retreat to Taiwan as the People's Republic of China is established on the mainland. More than 1 million people, including military personnel, officials and civilians join the KMT government led by Chiang Kai-shek in decamping to the island.

While Mao establishes the People’s Republic with the capital in Beijing, Chiang continues to lead the government of the Republic of China, still Taiwan’s formal name today. The KMT to this day formally claims that the Republic of China is the legitimate government of all of China, including the mainland.

1949 to 1987: One party rules and represses

The KMT rules Taiwan under martial law from 1949 until 1987, a period known as the White Terror. These years are marked by the political repression of those who criticized or opposed the government or were believed to be sympathizers of the Communists.

January 1979: U.S. cuts formal ties

The United States establishes formal relations with China and ends its official recognition of Taiwan. Through its “One China" policy, the U.S. acknowledges the People’s Republic of China as the nation's sole legal government. China prohibits all its diplomatic partners from maintaining formal ties with Taipei, and in recent years has accelerated the recruitment of Taipei’s existent diplomatic allies.

April 1979: U.S. vows to help Taiwan

U.S. Congress passes the Taiwan Relations Act, which while not restoring diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, creates a framework for maintaining unofficial ties with Taipei. Through the act, the U.S. commits to providing Taiwan with the means to defend itself and considers all threats to the island to be a security concern.

1992: Consensus with China

Taiwanese and Chinese officials meet in Hong Kong and arrive at the “1992 Consensus,” where both sides agree there is only “one China,” but each side is free to interpret what that means. Taiwan holds its first legislative election, marking an important step toward achieving democratic status.

1996: First president elected

Taiwan holds its first presidential election, marking its transition to a full democracy. The elected president is the KMT’s Lee Teng-hui, who had already been serving as the island's party-appointed president for eight years.

1995 to 1996: Chinese missile tests

China conducts a series of missile tests in waters surrounding Taiwan in response to Lee accepting an invitation from his alma mater, Cornell University, in the U.S., where he referred to Taiwan as a country and said that communism was “dead or dying.” China isn't pleased.

2000: First peaceful transfer of power

Taiwan undergoes its first peaceful transfer of power when the Democratic Progressive Party’s Chen Shui-bian wins the presidential election, ending 50 years of KMT rule. With the exception of eight years when the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou was president, the more independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party has been in power since.

August 2022: Pelosi visit rankles Beijing

While serving as speaker for the U.S. House of Representative, Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan – the highest level American official to visit the island in 25 years. She meets with then Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. China reacts angrily by staging its largest-to-date military drills surrounding the island. Its four days of live-fire drills include the launch of several ballistic missiles into the sea.

After Pelosi’s visit, China ramps up its military pressure on the island by sending military planes and warships near it almost daily.

December 2025: Latest military drills

China, upset with comments from Japan's prime minister and impending U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, stages two days of military drills in the waters around the island.