Taiwan and larger than Belgium. The island of Taiwan has an area of , and lies some from the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait directly to the south, and the South China Sea to the southwest. Its shape is similar to a sweet potato, giving rise to the slang term "hanji" ("sweet potato" in Hokkien) used by Taiwanese Hokkien speakers to refer to people of native Taiwanese descent. The island is characterized by the contrast between
U.S. immigration policy toward the People's Republic of China United States broke diplomatic relations with the Republic of China with the Taiwan Relations Act and gave Taiwan a separate immigration quota of 20,000 from that of mainland China. This resulted in a massive surge of Chinese immigrants from mainland China due to the renewal of relations of mainland China and the United States. The reasoning behind the legislation was the need for the United States to "normalize" relations with the People's Republic of China or in other words establish some sort of diplomatic relations with Beijing while at the same time maintaining the economic and political ties with the