Sometimes, I'll hear someone talk about a place called "Virginia", and I'll have no idea what they are talking about. Eventually, I figure out through context clues that they are referring to the Commonwealth of Virginia. I wish they would save me the time of having to constantly explain why they are wrong.

Bad analogy. This would be like people calling Rhode Island "Newport". The official state name is (the State of) "Rhode Island" (and Providence Plantations), and calling it by the name of one of its territories makes no sense.

Tangential factoid: often people (especially tourists) say Newport when they actually mean Aquidneck Island.

Source: I've lived in that area.

Yet we all knew you meant Rhode Island by saying Newport.

I didn't

Let's try a few others.

South Beach?

LA?

Vegas?

Even people from Fremantle wouldn't expect to say "South Beach" and have people outside Perth know where that is.

Every one of the many Taiwanese people I know refer to it as Taiwan, too. It's very rare to hear anyone refer to it as the ROC, unless in the context of specifically making a distinction from the PRC, or in a formal document.

Right, calling the ROC and all of its holdings "Taiwan" just muddies the conversation and gives ammo to PRC shills claiming "Taiwan is a province of China" which deliberately uses the name of a single ROC holding and the ambiguous "China" term.

Do you tell your friends about your summer trip to the Republic of Korea? Or were you visiting the Kingdom of Belgium that year? Do those friends invite you to visit their hometowns in the French Republic, or the Federal Republic of Germany? Maybe you can stop at the Grand Dutchy of Luxembourg along the way from one to the other?

Common names are common for a reason!

When shills from an aggressor nation in a highly politicized international conflict intentionally inject ambiguity into the names used by the states on either side of the conflict, you should strive to be as articulate as possible to avoid misunderstandings.

While you are technically correct, and it's true this is a real issue in PRC/ROC politics it's a strange hill to die on here.

I'd note that you linked to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_Armed_Forces to support your argument.

But the very first sentence of that page is "The Republic of China Armed Forces, commonly known as the Taiwanese Armed Forces..."

People commonly refer to the United States of America as "America" which is odd since there's also Central and South America. Being common doesn't equal being correct, and in this case the ambiguity is used by the aggressor state (PRC) to get people to believe a certain narrative. I'll continue to inform folks where I can as most people aren't aware of the situation between the ROC and PRC. I don't care about downvotes on this site _especially_ if it's because I'm stating facts that people do not like.

You'd better write to the US government too.

Here's the TAIWAN ALLIES INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION AND ENHANCEMENT INITIATIVE (TAIPEI) ACT OF 2019. It starts: To express United States support for Taiwan's diplomatic alliances around the world.

The name "Republic of China" (as opposed to "People's Republic of China") isn't used. However there are sentences like this:

Since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen as President of Taiwan in 2016, the Government of the People's Republic of China has intensified its efforts to pressure Taiwan.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/167...

lol, see my first post in this thread. I said I didn't like the fact that the USA calls the ROC "Taiwan", and I think you are overestimating my ability to influence USA foreign policy. The USA doesn't have formal diplomatic relations with the ROC so using "Taiwan" is a kludge.

I don't have any dislike for the fact that the ROC is an independent country, whether my government diplomatically recognizes them as such or not. I'm just pointing out that, if a Taiwanese family invites you to dinner, they're going to be weirded out by you continually saying "Republic of China" throughout the conversation.

I have lots of Taiwanese friends, but I appreciate your concern. I do use 中華民國 when talking about politics or anything related to the government or cross-strait relations. If I'm talking about the island of Taiwan specifically, I have no problem saying "Taiwan".

That sounds good. =) By the way, and not to put too fine a point on it, is there a reason why you don't call them Republic-of-Chinese friends?

Because all of them are actually from the island of Taiwan (not Kinmen or other holdings of the ROC), and they generally (and increasingly) do not want to be associated with "the Chinese": https://esc.nccu.edu.tw/course/news.php?Sn=166

"China" is a bad brand name nowadays. I really wish they could formally rename their country with a resumption of the civil war.

Taiwan is the common name for the state that officially goes by the name Republic of China. It's de-facto administrative boundaries have been the island of Taiwan for the last 70 years. That's long enough for most people stop caring all that much. Many countries in todays world were still colonies back then.

The ROC had existed continuously since over 30 years before it occupied the island of Taiwan. What about people in Kinmen? Do you consider them part of "Taiwan"? Please use the official government name to stop aiding the PRC in its misinformation campaign.

Taiwan has:

- a military

- a government

- a language

- a judicial system

- foreign relations, however hampered they are by the Communist party

It also happens to be in a state of cold war with their nominally Communist neighbour.

If it's not a country, nothing is.

So you're saying that the Republic of China Armed Forces belong to an entity called "Taiwan"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_Armed_Forces

"Taiwan" passports say "Republic of China" on them.

My passport stamps from when I entered Taiwan say "Republic of China".

Taiwan is just _one_ of the islands that the ROC controls. Calling the ROC "Taiwan" muddies the conversation and helps the PRC narrative that "Taiwan is a province of China".

The ROC has been a de facto independent country since 1912 when it was founded. The existence of the PRC since 1949 has not changed that.

On the military and foreign relation really matters in this list. In my understanding, the only reason these two still exists is because US is backing them up since WW2.

That is what Chinese claim. I think what Taiwan says matters too.

This is NOT what the People's Republic of China claims, the PRC does not recognize the government of the RoC.

False. And don't use the term "Chinese" as it's ambiguous. This is not what the PRC claims.

The ROC has existed since 1912 and has only occupied Taiwan since 1945 (some claim since 1952 and the Treaty of San Francisco). The ROC has been an independent state with continuous diplomatic recognition since 1912. It does not need to declare independence. I just take issue with people calling the ROC "Taiwan" as it gives ammo to PRC shills who intentionally muddy the conversation with their claim that "Taiwan is a part of China" where the term "China" is ambiguous or referencing the "One China" principle which the US doesn't even recognize (acknowledges the existence of, but does not adhere to).

> I just take issue with people calling the ROC "Taiwan" as it gives ammo to PRC shills who intentionally muddy the conversation with their claim that "Taiwan is a part of China"

...Calling it "Republic of China" is straight up saying "[this area] is a part of China". Naming it "Taiwan" is giving it an identity independent of China.

No, the current situation is that there are two governments both claiming to represent "China", not that the ROC is part of what you are calling "China" (PRC). The ROC can't amend its constitution to rename itself without triggering a PRC invasion.

You are using "China" to refer to the PRC which is misleading and muddies the conversation. I'm against calling the PRC "China" as much as I am against calling the ROC "Taiwan". Please use the full name or the acronym to avoid ambiguity.

This comment egregiously breaks the site guidelines. Personal attack is not allowed, and neither are accusations of shillage, which are overwhelmingly figments of internet imagination (I've spent hundreds of hours investigating this kind of thing). Please stick to the rules when posting here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

If you want more explanation about the astroturfing rule, there's years' worth at https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme....

See my edit. I'm 100% pro-ROC and 100% anti-PRC. Calling the ROC and its other non-Taiwan holdings "Taiwan" helps the PRC with their "Taiwan is a province of China" narrative. First time I, a stringent anti-communist, have ever been called a PRC shill. There's zero chance I'd be allowed to enter the PRC if they can see my internet posting history.

So why not simply declare Taiwan to be a country de-facto, despite a bunch of governments who suck up to China pretending otherwise? Who gets to decide what a "country" is?

Are you advocating for separating the island of Taiwan from the ROC? I'm honestly not sure what you're getting at here.

The ROC has already been an independent entity for over 100 years. There is nothing new in this situation that needs to be declaring independence. If the ROC amends its constitution to remove "China" from its official name, the PRC will attack instantly (they've said as much).

"Republic of China" sounds like something related to China. Maybe some sort of separatist organization? If the PRC invades it, that must be some sort of civil war, an internal Chinese matter. Can't blame China for conquering itself.

"Taiwan" doesn't sound related to China at all. It implies no more "Taiwan, province of China" than "Taiwan, country in East Asia".