Postage stamps and postal history of Taiwan Postage stamps and postal history of Taiwan This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Taiwan, otherwise known as Formosa, and currently governed by the Republic of China. The Republic of China comprises the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands, which are located off the east coast of mainland China. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the north-east, and the Philippines to the south. In 1886 Taiwan was upgraded from a prefecture to a province. A postal service was organised by Governor Liu Mingchuan, and
Mainland China area occupied by PRC as "mainland", since it is officially considered still part of the ROC territory but just enemy occupied. In contrast, the pro-Taiwan independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) prefer to use the term "China" instead, referring to the PRC, to imply that Taiwan (ROC) is separate from China. Related to this naming and broader national identity issue, the DPP would also like to amend the ROC constitution to limit its scope and territorial description to the Free area of the Republic of China only and rectify the ROC country name to "Republic of Taiwan" instead, thereby eliminating the