Political status of Taiwan across the Taiwan strait is only temporary and a reunified China including both mainland China and Taiwan will be the result. The position of the Republic of China had been that it was a "de jure" sovereign state. "Republic of China," according to the ROC government's definition, extended to both mainland China (Including Hong Kong and Macau) and the island of Taiwan. In 1991, President Lee Teng-hui unofficially claimed that the government would no longer challenge the rule of the Communists in mainland China, the ROC government under Kuomintang (KMT) rule actively maintained that it was the sole legitimate government
Taiwan, China rules the Taiwan Area (composed of Taiwan and its nearby minor islands), became known as "Taiwan" after its largest island, (an instance of "pars pro toto"). It stopped active claim of mainland China as part of its territory after constitutional reform in 1991. However, since the 2008 election of Ma Ying-jeou, he again asserted that mainland China is part of Republic of China territory according to its constitution, and, in 2013, he stated that relations between PRC and ROC are not between countries but "regions of the same country". In 1971, the People's Republic of China won the United Nations