Geography of Taiwan water supplies, and trade in endangered species. Though regulation of sulfate aerosol emissions from petroleum combustion is becoming stringent, acid rain remains a threat to the health of residents and forests. Atmospheric scientists in Taiwan estimate that more than half of the pollutants causing Taiwan's acid rain are carried from mainland China by monsoon winds. Geography of Taiwan Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, is an island in East Asia; located some off the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. It has an area of , which includes other nearby islands such as Penghu (). The East China
Mainland China need to refer to the "mainland area" and "Free Area" altogether. In 1992, a high-level political meeting between the ROC and PRC was held in Hong Kong where what became called the "1992 Consensus" developed. This "consensus" essentially reaffirmed that both the ROC (then under KMT administration) and the PRC agree there is only "one China" in a definition that covers both sides of Taiwan Strait, but they differ on their own interpretation of what that "China" means. Each interprets and believes it is the China and has a claim on the territories held by the other. In this context,