After the Surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, the island of Taiwan was placed under the administration of Nationalist Republic of China (ROC) in 1945 and became their newest province. Near the end of Chinese Civil War in 1949, before the post-war treaties were to be signed, the Kuomintang were driven out of the mainland by the Communists who would later establish the People's Republic of China (PRC) in October 1949. The then ruling-party Kuomintang, however, retreated to the occupied Taiwan, thus becoming government in exile and remained for a time as the internationally recognized government of all of China. Most democratic countries (including the United States) initially continued to support the Nationalist government while communist nations recognized the Communist government.