After several decades of diplomatic tensions, Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on August 2, 2022, appears to have brought relations between China and the United States to a critical level. Mainland China’s claims of belonging to Taiwan and the geostrategic challenges to which the island has been subjected for many years have made it a de facto state without international recognition. This has not prevented its population, today made up of 23 million Taiwanese, from constructing its own identity. To understand why Taiwan is today at the heart of the worrying Sino-American crisis, we must go back to the 17th century, to the beginning of the island’s historical relations with China, induced by its geographical proximity to the mainland.
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Taiwan: a heavy historical heritage
