We've been hearing a lot about tensions between China and Taiwan lately.
It's a complicated situation to get up to speed with — but we've got you covered.
Is Taiwan a country?
It's not a silly question and it has a complicated answer.
China — which is to say, the People's Republic of China (PRC) — considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province.
Many Taiwanese people consider their self-ruled island to be a separate nation.
Adding to the confusion, Taiwan also goes by the name Republic of China (ROC).
What's the dispute between China and Taiwan?
In 1927, a civil war broke out in China, with the fighting being between nationalist and communist forces.
This war was essentially paused when China fought off the Japanese invasion in World War II, but resumed once that was over.
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party established the PRC and set up Beijing as its capital.
Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan and relocated the ROC's capital to Taipei. About 1.2 million people from the mainland followed.
Many countries — including Australia — recognised Taipei as China's capital for another two decades.
But in 1971, the United Nations passed a resolution recognising Beijing and the PRC.
At this point, most of the world followed suit.
However, authorities in Taiwan still claim to be the legitimate government of the whole of China in the Constitution of the ROC.
Taiwan has developed from a harsh autocracy into a democracy.
China remains an authoritarian state run by the Communist party.
But ... Taiwan is a separate land mass to China?
There's been a long and complicated history of territorial claims on Taiwan, which was under Chinese rule from the early 1680s until 1895.
It was ceded to the Empire of Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Qing Dynasty's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War.
But when Japan lost World War II, it transferred control of the island to a Nationalist representative in Taiwan.
When the Nationalists lost the civil war on the Chinese mainland and retreated to Taiwan, they didn't declare independence there.
The Nationalists instead insisted they remained the legitimate government of all of China, while the new communist government in Beijing continued to lay claim to the island.
Does Australia recognise Taiwan?
Not officially.
Australia's stance is that Taiwan is not a sovereign state.
It 1972, Australia signed a joint communique with the PRC recognising the PRC as China's sole legal government.
In that communique, Australia acknowledged the PRC's position that Taiwan was a province of the PRC.
This formed the basis of the federal government's "one China policy", which means Australia doesn't regard Taiwanese authorities as having the status of a national government.
However, Australia still "strongly supports" economic and cultural relations with Taiwan on an unofficial basis.
How far is Taiwan from China?
The island is about 180 kilometres from the mainland.
That's roughly how wide the Taiwan Strait is, but it's about 130 kilometres wide at its narrowest point.
What are the boundaries between Taiwan and China?
Let's start with Taiwan's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Countries declare these zones as a way of keeping across potential military threats, with authorities asking aircraft to identify themselves if they enter that zone.
These zones are generally much larger than a country's boundaries.
Taiwan's self-declared ADIZ extends over a chunk of China, but the US military doesn't recognise that part.
Then there's the Taiwan Strait median line.
This is about the mid-way point between China and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait.
You might also hear a bit about the concept of Taiwan's air space and references about activity within 12 nautical miles from its shores.
That's because, according the standard defined by the Law of the Sea, a country's airspace is an area directly above its territorial waters which to extend 12 nautical miles off the coastline.
But a senior defence analyst told ABC's East Asia correspondent Bill Birtles that, traditionally, it's not just the 12 nautical miles that designates territorial waters.
Birtles says China has "long been aware that they should stay at least 30 nautical miles away from Taiwan, otherwise they're risking a confrontation".
Why was Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan such a big deal?
As US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is one of America's highest-ranking officials, with just President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris above her.
She's the highest-level US visitor to Taiwan in 25 years.
The US has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by American law to provide it with the means to defend itself.
But America's commitment to Taiwan is deliberately vague, and no-one's really sure what the US would do if China actually invaded the island.
"Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon Taiwan," Ms Pelosi said.
China viewed Ms Pelosi's visit as support for a Taiwanese push for formal independence from China.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the trip was "a provocation and violation of China's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Is China going to invade Taiwan?
June Teufel Dreyer, a Chinese politics specialist University of Miami, doesn't think so.
She said China would "raise a huge fuss" and possibly embargo on imports on Taiwan goods, but things would simmer down.
"After the shouting is over, you will see a gradual easing.
"The situation never goes back to completely normal, whatever normal is, but it will definitely die down."
The defence analyst Bill Birtles spoke to doesn't believe Chinese planes and ships will go into Taiwan's sensitive 30 nautical mile zone during the military exercises:
"But if they do, Taiwan's military has already vowed to respond and to protect its sovereignty.
"It really is going to be a nerve-racking couple of days for everybody here in Taiwan, just to see how far Xi Jinping's Chinese military pushes things."
But it's worth remembering that China has never recognised Taiwan's government and has set a deadline of 2049 for unification of the mainland with the island.
ABC with Wires
