Taiwan is a place.
Taiwan ( also known as Formosa , from Portuguese : Ilha Formosa , `` Beautiful Island '' , [ ˌiʎɐ fuɾˈmɔzɐ ] ) is an island in East Asia ; located some 180 km off the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait . A one-party state , single-party state , one-party system , single-party system or one-party democracy is a type of state in which one political party has the right to form the government , usually based on the existing constitution . Taiwan . In the 1980s and early 1990s , it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with a semi-presidential system .