臺灣東海岸的迷濛美景（角頭／攝） The Misty Scenery of the East Shore of Taiwan (Photo by Cornerer)
臺灣，又稱福爾摩莎（源自葡萄牙語之「美麗(島)」），是中華民國最大的島嶼，擁有超過二千三百萬人口，位於臺灣海峽東部，亦即中國大陸東南沿海之對岸。
自從第二次世界大戰於1945年結束後，原為日本殖民地的臺灣群島便被中華民國佔領。當中華民國的執政黨，亦即中國國民黨，於1949年在國共內戰中敗給共產黨後，中華民國的中央政府便遷至臺灣，並把臺北設為首都；於此同時，共產黨則在中國大陸建立中華人民共和國。此後，中華民國（請別與中華人民共和國混淆）一直都是一個位於東亞的主權獨立國家，如今普遍被稱作臺灣。
中華民國政府過去是國際承認的中國獨裁政權，並以此做為聯合國的創始會員國之一，以及聯合國安全理事會的常務理事國之一，直到1971年被中華人民共和國取而代之。不過，由於臺灣人民自1970年代晚期以來的民主化運動，中華民國（臺灣）正從一個獨裁國家逐漸演變為一個民主國家，其總統已由人民直接選舉產生。
然而，由於中華人民共和國的興起以及其政府所施加的壓力，中華民國（臺灣）也已從一個全球普遍承認的國家逐漸演變為一個與世界大多數國家之間只具有「實務往來」關係的國家。現在國際上對這個國家的承認是非常侷限的，她也一直被拒絕以獨立國家的身分來參加大多數的國際組織（例如世界衛生組織）。
下列音樂影片是臺灣樂團閃靈於2007年發表的歌曲「無限臺灣」。
Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese: (Ilha) Formosa, meaning “beautiful (island)”), is the largest island of the Republic of China (ROC) with a population of more than 23 million people, which is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China.
Since the end of World War II in 1945, the archipelago of Taiwan and nearby islands which used to be Japanese colonies has been occupied by the Republic of China. When the ruling party of the ROC, which is Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese Nationalist Party, lost the civil war to the Communist Party in 1949, the ROC’s central government relocated to Taiwan and established Taipei as its capital; while the Communists founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China. Since then, the Republic of China (ROC, not to be confused with PRC, the People’s Republic of China) has always been an independent country (sovereign state) in East Asia, now commonly known as Taiwan.
The ROC government used to be the internationally recognized dictatorship authority of China, and as such was a founding member of the United Nations and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, until being replaced by the PRC in 1971. However, because of the democratization movement of Taiwanese people since late 1970s, the ROC (Taiwan) has been evolving from a dictatorship country into a democratic country with a president elected directly by the people.
Nevertheless, due to the rising of the PRC and the pressure from its government, the ROC (Taiwan) has also evolved from a country with full global recognition into a country with only “de facto” relations with most of the countries in the world. Right now it enjoys very limited international recognition and has been rejected from joining most of the international organizations (e.g. WHO) as an independent country.
Here is a music video of a song called “UNlimited Taiwan”, which was released in 2007 by a Taiwanese band, Chthonic.
參照 References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2V3y6QxN6c
