A short history of the China-Taiwan conflict

A detailed timeline of cross-strait relations

The contentious history between China and Taiwan is neatly detailed in this BBC News timeline. Stretching back over 300 years, see important historical periods and points that stand out in Taiwan's and the region's background. From its original annexation by China during the Qing Dynasty to the present day, get a better grip on Taiwan's identity and history.

China vs. Taiwan, explained

Taiwan and China are separated by just 100 miles of water, but the distance between the two countries is farther than that. This 14-minute video details the history of their sovereignty dispute, and China's likelihood to use military tactics if they can't unify peacefully. The main problem there is that the United States has vowed to defend Taiwan, which could lead to an American-Chinese war.

The history of the Chinese civil war from 1945-49

Today's tensions were formed after the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Kuomintang shortly after World War II. Here's a thorough explainer on what happened.

Tracking the latest developments in the Taiwan Strait

China continues to express its desire to unify with Taiwan and prevent the island republic from any interaction with the United States of America. See the latest skirmishes and saber-rattlings on the part of the Chinese government in this detailed article that provides clear data visualizations of how China has encroached on Taiwan's air space and tested the waters, so to speak.

Why China wants Taiwan

Why does China want Taiwan? Money, power, nationalism, regional dominance, and a footstep toward further establishing their position as a superpower. This article explores all the angles of China's sudden push to reclaim/reunify with their neighbor across the strait. But an invasion might not be as easy as they suppose.

How Taiwan residents view China and the US

There is widespread support in Taiwan for increased economic and political ties with the US, compared to China. This deep dive of data from the Pew Research Center breaks down how various segments of Taiwan's population perceive the US and China individually and among other Asia-Pacific countries.

How China could blockade Taiwan

China has its eyes on Taiwan, and could move to isolate the island in order to force it into concessions. Through military maneuvers, building its navy, and other actions, it feels like China is testing the waters for a future blockade if peaceful attempts to unify the two countries fail. This New York Times interactive article details how it might happen.

A brief video explainer on the US 'One China' policy

Wondering what the "One China" policy means? This four-minute explainer video delves into which nations recognize Beijing as the seat of the Chinese government and which recognize Taiwan as such. Meanwhile, the United States of America views Beijing as the true government while maintaining relations with Taiwan, including selling them arms to protect themselves.

What a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would look like

If China invaded Taiwan today, it would not be an easy task. This four-minute video explores the obstacles and opposition the Chinese military would face during an attack on the island. Distance, Taiwan's military spending and training, and weaponry designed to oppose an attack from the sea are all factors that would prevent an immediate win by China.

China's latest statement on why it wants to 'reunify' with Taiwan

"The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era" is a white paper released by the People's Republic of China in 2022. It outlines the Chinese government's reasons for reclaiming/reunifying with the island nation of Taiwan in a series of detailed points. The full text of the document can be found here.

Comparing military power: China and Taiwan

When it comes to power, China and Taiwan are predictably lopsided, though in some regards Taiwan may be able to hold its own. This site crunches the numbers for each country and compares them side by side. See what the totals are and what either side's military seems to be focused on.

Taiwan's economic history, analyzed

See how the global economic power evolved from the colonial period to today, including charts and graphs highlighting China's progress, especially in recent decades.

The history of China: a timeline

How long has China existed, and how and when did it evolve into its form? Explore the journey of China from empire to republic (to a republic, again) in this timeline. Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest Chinese dynasty formed at about...

Trade between the US and China has significantly increased in recent decades.

History of Hong Kong: an illustrated timeline

This visual timeline explores the history of Hong Kong, a Chinese community that was under British rule for 156 years until it was returned in 1997. Hong Kong was ceded to the British via the Treaty of Nanjing, an agreement that ended the First Opium War. This timeline details 25 crucial events that have happened to and in Hong Kong, a Democratic territory that stands apart from mainland China's Communist government.

Taiwan's semiconductor dominance

Taiwan is a leader in the production of semiconductors. In the event of a Chinese invasion, what happens if China controls the supply chain for these indispensable materials? How would it affect the United States as well as other nations already dealing with disruptions due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine? This blog explores these questions and more.

How China's 'one country, two systems' works

"One country, two systems" is a principle put forth by the People's Republic of China as its approach toward formerly independent regions like Hong Kong and Macau. Supposedly promising administrative independence, China has not always been consistent in its application. Currently, it plans to offer the same arrangement with Taiwan. Learn more in this brief video.

How did China go from an empire to a republic?

In the 1800s, as China's economy was in flux, foreign imperialist powers began appearing on the horizon, leading China to lose land and influence in the region. This 48-minute podcast episode explores how this destabilization set the stage for the...

US–Cuba contentious relations began long before the Cold War

Long before the revolution and missile crisis, US involvement in Cuba stretched back over 150 years—rooted in slavery, sugar, and shifting imperial ambitions. This short video traces how cycles of intervention and neglect shaped the island’s modern history.

A photo story of the Chinese civil war and creation of modern-day China

A deep dive of the twists and turns of China's civil war and how the People’s Republic of China was established, illustrated through restored photographs in color.

The Flying Tigers: American fighter pilots who fought for China in WWII

Read the story of the Flying Tigers, a unit of American pilots, many Chinese-Americans, hired by the Chinese in 1941 to fight the Japanese in the skies. While the US wasn't officially at war with Japan until later on, some of the earliest American "victories" over the Japanese were won by the Flying Tigers. Read more of this amazing bit of aviation history here.

Japan's imperial expansion in Asia in the 1930s set the stage for war with the US.

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A trade war is an economic conflict where nations impose tariffs or other trade barriers on each other in retaliation for similar actions.

China's WTO membership produced significant disputes

Two decades after China joined, its trade practices—such as state subsidies, intellectual property disputes, and market access restrictions—have sparked accusations that it has not fully met WTO commitments of free and open trade.

The US asked Japan to leave China less than two weeks before Pearl Harbor

On Nov. 26, 1941, Secretary of State Cordell Hull issued a note calling on Japan to withdraw from China and Indochina—terms Tokyo saw as impossible. The note confirmed to Japanese leaders that diplomacy had collapsed, accelerating plans for the Pearl Harbor strike (which had been formally approved Nov. 5).

Explore over a century of US-Canadian relations.

See a timeline of the tumultuous relationship between Cuba and the US since 1959

Only 90 miles separate Cuba from the US, yet Cold War hostility froze relations for decades. This timeline traces six decades of tension, from revolution and missile crisis to renewed hardline US policies reintroduced in 2025

Hong Kong: British colony turned Chinese police state

This 15-minute video explores how Hong Kong has changed since China reclaimed the territory from Britain in 1997. Hong Kong became a British colony after the First Opium War, a conflict arising from Britain's attempt to equalize trade with China through smuggled opium. Democratic rights assumed by Hong Kong residents, such as the right to protest, have been in peril since the 1997 shift, according to this video.

US–Soviet hostility began long before the Cold War

US–Soviet tensions began decades before WWII. After the 1917 revolution, the US refused to recognize the Bolshevik regime and even sent troops to fight against it.

Before World War II, the US was a Pacific power

Decades before Pearl Harbor, the US held major Pacific territories—Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, American Samoa, and numerous island bases—giving it strategic reach across the western Pacific. This presence increasingly overlapped with Japan’s imperial ambitions in the region, contributing to rising tensions.

China has blocked the Wikipedia domain since 2015

The Chinese language version of the site had been blocked intermittently since 2004 due to pages featuring topics deemed controversial by the Chinese communist party, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and Taiwan. Once Wikipedia switched to an HTTPS protocol—making it impossible to block individual pages—all Wikipedia pages were blocked.

Explore the fraught relations between the United States and Cuba since 1959

From the Cuban Missile Crisis and decades of economic embargo to President Obama's normalization efforts and President Trump's reversion to "maximum pressure," US-Cuba relations have fluctuated between hostility and fleeting diplomacy since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

China's relationship to the rules-based order is contested

In this piece, Paul Gewirtz, a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School, argues that China has been a beneficiary, a rule-bender, and an increasingly assertive challenger of the rules-based order, aiming to revise norms it sees as reflecting Western rather than universal values.

The US and South Korea have a robust, if delicate, alliance

The deep ties between South Korea and the United States go back decades, but the relationship hasn’t always been frictionless. When two off-duty American servicemen accidentally killed two South Korean middle-school girls in 2002, it set off anti-American protests that led South Korea to seek a more balanced relationship. The Council on Foreign Relations traces key moments in the two countries’ seven-decade history.

What (and when) was Imperial China?

China's first dynasty arose in 1600 BCE, according to current archaeological evidence, and its last dynasty fell in 1911. Learn more about Imperial China in this Smithsonian collection of articles and artifacts on each dynasty. According to...

Timeline: the Middle East conflict

During the First World War, Western and Arab powers negotiated the future political status of Arab lands. Since WWI, a complex history of political, economic, and social events have fueled tension and violence between Israel and Palestine. This timeline, compiled by Al Jazeera, highlights important global events defining conflict in the Middle East from 1915 to 2007.

How former President Nixon's visit to China shifted geopolitics

While Richard Nixon may be best remembered for Watergate and the disintegration of his presidency, his visit to China in 1972 stands as a triumph of his administration. Learn about the president's visit to Beijing (then referred to as Peking), his methods and approach, and the subsequent opening of diplomatic ties with China.

How cigarettes took over China

In 2022, China had a fifth of the world's population and bought nearly half of the world's cigarettes. This investigation explores how China became plagued by tobacco consumption, something epidemiologists say will strain the country's health system...

What led to the Vietnam War?

On the heels of gaining independence from colonizers, why did Vietnam fracture and begin its internal battle? Though the war took root during an independence movement against French colonial rule, it evolved into a Cold War confrontation with international support. This article explains six events that led to the conflict between North and South Vietnam.

China has used several different calendars because of changes in government structure

For many centuries, during which China was an imperial nation, the lunar/lunisolar calendar (aka the “rural calendar”) was the basis for organizing the year. Several attempts were made over the decades to switch to the Gregorian calendar—which begins Jan. 1—but it wasn’t until the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 that it stuck.

Is China using archaeological findings to boost its territorial claims?

This 28-minute podcast dives into the political ramifications of two Ming dynasty-era ships found in the South China Sea in October 2022. The ships, filled with well-preserved porcelain and timber, were found 1,500 meters—about 4,900...

China doubled its nuclear stockpile between 2020 and 2025, with plans for further expansion.

How TSMC, the world's biggest chip manufacturer, makes money

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has more than 500 clients across the world, but none are bigger or more consequential to its business than Apple. The iPhone maker accounts for 25% of TSMC's total revenue. TSMC controls more than 60% of the global market share in semiconductor manufacturing. Dive into the economics and outlook of this important company here.

An interactive timeline of the major events of World War I

World War I took place between July 28, 1914 and November 11, 1918, but a lot happened within that relatively short time. And even more occurred afterward. The comprehensive timeline shows when major and influential events took place during the conflict, accompanied by articles, videos, and other media in support.

7 experts debate China's role in the future of the rules-based international order

This interactive feature showcases opposing arguments—from scholars who view China as a major threat to the order, to Chinese analyst Wu Xinbo's argument that China will shape the order's evolution rather than destroy it.

Prelude to the Tiananmen Square crackdown

On June 2, 1989, two days before the military-led massacre that would come to be known as the Tiananmen Square crackdown, nine of China's top leaders discussed how to stop pro-democracy protesters. During this meeting, leader Deng Xiaoping delivered a speech that has shaped the country ever since, in which he advocated for a forceful end to the protests while supporting China's economic "opening-up" featured in protesters' demands.

Hear how the US and Iran went from close allies to bitter adversaries after the 1979 revolution.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was America's first major immigration restriction

The act, signed in 1882, barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States, marking the first significant restriction on free immigration. This overview examines 19th-century Chinese immigration, rising anti-Chinese sentiment, and the diplomatic implications of exclusionary legislation.

Hardline China critics in the US worry that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a Trojan horse for military expansion efforts

The Belt and Road Initiative, initially launched in 2013 to develop trade routes throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, has evolved into a larger infrastructure development initiative in developing countries. The BRI is backed by the Silk Road Fund, which is administered by the two most prominent Chinese sovereign wealth funds.

Japan committed mass war crimes during its invasion of China

During the 1937 invasion, Japanese forces carried out systematic atrocities—including mass executions, rape, torture, forced labor, and chemical warfare. The Nanjing Massacre alone killed tens of thousands over a span of six weeks, with some estimates claiming 300,000.