Cross-Strait Strains

1949 Communist forces led by Mao Zedong defeat Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, driving him and more than a million followers to Taiwan. Chiang sets up a government-in-exile and vows to "recover the mainland"

1954 The U.S. signs a mutual-defense treaty with Taiwan

1958 China attacks the island of Quemoy, a base for about 100,000 Nationalist troops in the Taiwan Strait, in a bid to "liberate" Taiwan. The U.S. deploys the Seventh Fleet; the Chinese back off

1971 Taiwan is expelled from the United Nations and its seat given to China, following a secret visit to Beijing by the then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon visits China, paving the way for the resumption of full diplomatic relations between the two nations and leading to the end of formal U.S. ties with Taiwan

1979 The U.S. cuts formal links with Taiwan and agrees to abide by Beijing's "one China" policy

1987 Taiwan lifts martial law after 38 years and allows its nationals to visit relatives in China for the first time

1988 Lee Teng-hui becomes the island's first native Taiwanese President, and democratic reforms begin to take hold

1989 China fears that Taiwan will declare a formal split after the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) fares well in parliamentary and local-government polls

1993 The first high-level talks between China and Taiwan take place in Singapore

1995 A visit to the U.S. by President Lee prompts China to perform missile tests and military exercises in the Taiwan Strait just before the island's first presidential election by universal suffrage. Lee wins

1999 Lee infuriates Beijing by saying China and Taiwan enjoy a "special state-to-state relationship," implying that Taiwan is an independent sovereign nation

2000 DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian, also a native Taiwanese, is elected President, ending more than 50 years of Kuomintang rule

2001 Taiwan eases restrictions on its companies wanting to invest in China. Two journalists from the mainland's Xinhua News Agency become the first Chinese reporters to visit Taiwan under the island's new "open door" policy

2002 President Chen defines the status quo as "one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait," sparking criticism from Beijing and his domestic opponents

2003 A Taiwan airliner makes the first civilian flight to the mainland since 1949. Chen, meanwhile, announces plans for a referendum on election day on March 20, 2004, to ask voters whether the island should increase its defense budget and engage in dialogue with Beijing