Talk:Showdown Update/@comment-36789583-20190702213527/@comment-27736210-20190703115124

In Asphalt 8, Taiwan is excluded from the country-selection menu. Taiwanese players, I presume, are automatically assigned either to "Worldwide" or "China" (China being represented by the flag of the People's Republic of China or PRC).

By the way, for clarification, Hong Kong and Macau ARE in fact 100% under Chinese (PRC) sovereignty in every sense of the word. However, because China has agreed to grant Hong Kong and Macau with a significant amount of autonomy, meant to last for fifty years under the name "One Country Two Systems", China usually allows Hong Kong and Macau to participate independently in the Olympics and other sporting events. However, Hong Kong and Macau are not allowed to act as individuals in the United Nations and other more formal organizations. Hong Kong and Macau are both allowed to use their own flags in the Olympics, but the flags have been designed to clearly match the style of China's own flag, and they must always be raised at a lower height alongside the Chinese flag.

Regarding Taiwan, the legal status of the island is much more complicated. The political entity which currently controls Taiwan is officially known by the name "Republic of China". It once ruled over China, but it lost control of most of China in 1949, was exiled to Taiwan and some other minor islands, and eventually lost most of its official diplomatic relations with foreign countries (it is now only recognized by 16 out of 193 United Nations member states as well as the Vatican, which is a United Nations observer). However, only around 1% of the territory controlled by the Republic of China is actually part of "China" -- this consists of the tiny islands of Kinmen and Matsu, which are located much closer to the PRC compared to Taiwan island. The main island controlled by the Republic of China, Taiwan island (as well as the nearby Penghu archipelago), is not actually part of "China".

Taiwan island, which was originally an independent domain and home to the Taiwanese Aborigines for thousands of years, was annexed by the Qing dynasty of China in 1683. It remained part of the Qing Empire until 1895. In that year, the Qing dynasty fought a war with the Empire of Japan and lost tremendously, forcing it to cede Taiwan to the Empire of Japan in perpetuity (forever). Fifty years later, the Repubic of China, the successor state to the Qing Empire, won the Second Sino-Japanese War with assistance from the World War II Allies and recaptured the island of Taiwan with the permission of the WWII Allies. The Republic of China officially annexed Taiwan island in 1945, but this was actually illegal and was opposed by both the United Kingdom and the United States. The only legal means through which Taiwan could be annexed was through an official treaty. Long story short, no treaty has ever been signed throughout the past 74 years following the end of World War II which explicitly transfers sovereignty over the island of Taiwan from the Empire of Japan to the Republic of China. However, one treaty, the Treaty of San Francisco (1952), officially states that Taiwan no longer belongs to the Empire of Japan, without indicating a successor state. Hence, according to international law, nobody owns Taiwan.

The Republic of China is still temporarily occupying Taiwan, but it's very difficult to change this political status since the Republic of China has (mostly) lost its right to international recognition in favour of the People's Republic of China, which replaced the Republic of China as the representative of "China" in the United Nations in 1971. Hence, most countries of the world officially recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese government, and officially recognize the Republic of China as a "rogue government". This means that most governments and the United Nations are officially unable to negotiate with the Republic of China in regards to the future of Taiwan island's sovereign status. Obviously, the Republic of China doesn't want to give up its sovereign claim to Taiwan, because it doesn't want to lose its sovereignty (since Taiwan makes up 99% of the territory which it controls). Meanwhile, the People's Republic of China also believes that it owns Taiwan. In fact, neither country has ever possessed sovereignty over Taiwan, but they both have a huge amount of political influence over the island, and they are both aiming to eventually solidify their sovereign claim to Taiwan once the other respective Chinese regime has been completely obliterated (they are still at war with one another).