Geography of Taiwan its narrowest. Part of the continental shelf, the Strait is no more than deep, and has become a land bridge during glacial periods. To the south, the island of Taiwan is separated from the Philippine island of Luzon by the -wide Luzon Strait. The South China Sea lies to the southwest, the East China Sea to the north, and the Philippine Sea to the east. Smaller islands of the archipelago include the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait west of the main island, with an area of , the tiny islet of Xiaoliuqiu off the southwest coast, and Orchid Island
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