Huadu (Taiwan)

Republic of China independence, abbreviated in Chinese as Huadu is a stance on the status of Taiwan that posits Taiwan and its outlying islands are presently an independent state (i.e. a distinct sovereign state from the People's Republic of China) under the name "Republic of China"''. Huadu'' supporters reject the One China policy, instead positing that:


 * 1) There is a state of Taiwan whose formal name is the Republic of China for historical reasons, and/or;
 * 2) There are two Chinese states which coexist as part of a unitary nation, akin to the historical division of Germany or the current division of Korea

The Taiwanese nationalist movement is largely divided into Huadu, which favors retaining "China" as part of the Taiwanese state's formal name to maintain legal ambiguity over the political status of Taiwan; and Taidu, a syllabic abbreviation of "Taiwan independence" that proposes a more radical departure from the status quo by making a formal declaration of independence to create a de jure "Republic of Taiwan". Huadu politics is generally favored by the moderate pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) while more radical groups such as the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union favor a declaration of independence. DPP huadu supporters tend to see huadu politics as a pragmatic way to assert Taiwan's independence.

Huadu is currently the semi-official policy of the government of Taiwan/ROC, with the administration of President Lai Ching-te (from the DPP) holding that there already exists an independent Taiwanese state which is called the Republic of China or Taiwan interchangeably. This was also the position of the Tsai Ing-wen and Chen Shui-bian governments.

Some politicians in the Kuomintang (KMT) party also support Huadu. However, Huadu adherents in the KMT tend to see the ROC and PRC as two component states of a single Chinese nation, akin to North and South Korea or East and West Germany.