(12-06-2012, 01:00 PM)Adrianis Wrote: Close enough? hehe if you say so
Actually Taiwan is formally known as the Republic of China (China is called the People's Republic of China). It's very complicated but if you want to read up on some very interesting history and some history in the making
check
this article out. The tl;dr version is that Taiwan lays claim to all of China, and China lays claim to Taiwan, and because China is bigger it bullies every other major country into saying it is a province of the PRC. It's not even recognized as a nation by the UN, and the U.S. don't recognize it as a country mainly because they don't care and they want to continue trading with China, because let's face it: Taiwan is a less valuable ally diplomatically than China. Most Americans think it's a country though and no serious geography buff would say it belongs to China.
Personally I think both sides are being very immature, but I wouldn't be surprised if the two countries went to war in the near future.