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
Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China of Taiwanese Aborigines adopted by the ROC. Instead, the PRC government classifies all Taiwanese Aboriginese as "Gaoshan" people, one of the 56 recognized ethnicities of China. In July 2017, Taiwanese crew members of the Malaysian airline AirAsia X were required to change their nationality from Taiwan (TWN) to China (CHN) for any flight flying to and from Mainland China. In 2017 Xinhua News Agency issued guidelines abolishing the term Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China. Although Taiwan is a traditional province of China, considering the circumenstances, Taiwan Area is used instead. This apparently does not include Kinmen and Matsu, which