NewsTracker Answers for week of May 04, 2026

Q: When President Donald Trump visits Beijing May 14-15, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he wants to talk about the status of Taiwan, an island country of 23 million people that his government claims as its territory but has never ruled. Where is Taiwan off the southeast coast of China?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Xi is the leader of a government that has ruled mainland China since 1949. What is the official name of his government?

A. Chinese People’s Republic

B. Democratic Republic of China

C. People’s Republic of China

D. Republic of China

C. The Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong declared the People’s Republic of China after defeating the forces of the Republic of China during a civil war. Defeated leader Chiang Kai-shek and his followers fled in 1949 to Taiwan, which is still called the Republic of China.

Q: Which nation ruled Taiwan before the Republic of China gained control of the islands in 1945?

A. Britain

B. Japan

C. Russia

D. United States

B. Japan had ruled Taiwan since 1895 after defeating the Qing dynasty, the last emperors to rule China. The Qing dynasty had annexed Taiwan in 1683, making it formally part of China for the first time.

Q: Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years. Taiwan’s indigenous people began a seaborne migration about 7,000 years ago that links them linguistically and genetically to people in ...

A. Hawaii

B. Madagascar

C. New Zealand

D. All of the above

D. The Austronesian people spread from Taiwan to Southeast Asia and across the vast Pacific and Indian oceans. The Han Chinese did not begin settling on the main island until the 1500s.

Q: The United States continued to recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan as the government of all of China from 1949 until 1979, when which U.S. president signed a diplomatic agreement with Beijing?

A. Richard Nixon

B. Gerald Ford

C. Jimmy Carter

D. Ronald Reagan

C. Eight years after Nixon initiated friendly relations with Beijing, Carter signed a pact that recognized the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate government and agreed that "Taiwan is part of China.” However, the United States continued to arm Taiwan against any possible invasion by Beijing.