Republic of China independence ( Chinese: 中華民國獨立; pinyin: zhōnghuá mínguó dúlì), abbreviated in Chinese as Huadu ( Chinese: 華獨; pinyin: huá dú; lit. 'Chinese independence') [1] is the political position that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is already an independent country separate from the People's Republic of China; approving neither Chinese unification with the PRC nor Taiwanese independence as the Republic of Taiwan. The Taiwanese nationalist movement is largely divided into Taidu and Huadu. Taidu ( Chinese: 台獨; pinyin: tái dú) is an abbreviation of Taiwan independence ( Chinese: 台灣獨立; pinyin: táiwān dúlì). [1]
Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country called the Republic of China.
— Lai Ching-te, 15 August 2023 [2]
Major politicians of the Democratic Progressive Party seeking moderate Taiwanese nationalism tend to support Huadu. Tsai Ing-wen's administration of Taiwan maintains that Taiwan is already an independent country as the Republic of China and thus does not have to push for any sort of formal independence. [3] Some politicians in Kuomintang also support Huadu. [4]
Broadly speaking, they are divided into two camps: "Taiwan" independence (台獨, taidu) and "Republic of China (ROC)" independence (華獨, huadu). The basic difference between the two is between renaming the country Taiwan or maintaining Taiwan as an independent nation under the ROC name and maintaining the constitution.