How China and Taiwan split: A look back, as leaders meet

Natioinalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung toast each other at a banquet held in Chongqing, China. (Sovfoto / UIG / Getty Images)

Chinese generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalist Party meets with Communist leader Mao Tse-tung in Chongqing. Mao, who is accompanied by the U.S. ambassador to China, Patrick J. Hurley, stays in the southwestern city for 43 days and leaves on Oct. 11, 1945.

Chinese Communist troops take prisoners at bayonet point after heavy fighting in Shanghai in May 1949. (Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

The Nationalists launch a large-scale assault on Communist territory, marking the resumption of a civil war. Mao and Chiang never meet again.

In Beijing, Mao announces the establishment of the People’s Republic of China following the Communists’ defeat of the Nationalists.

Chiang arrives in Taipei, sealing the relocation of the Nationalist-led government to Taiwan.

The Korean War breaks out. President Truman deploys the U.S. 7th Fleet to the Taiwan Strait in an effort to prevent Mao from launching a military strike against the Nationalists.

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Chow Shu-kai, foreground, and Ambassador Lui Chieh, center, watch closely as the United Nations General Assembly votes on preliminary questions to a proposal to admit mainland China. (Associated Press)

The United Nations General Assembly votes to admit China and expel Taiwan.

Mourners kneel before a huge altar and a portrait of the late Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek at Taipei's Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. (PAN / Associated Press)

Chiang dies.

Members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army pay their respects as the body of Mao Tse-tung lies in state. (Associated Press)

Mao dies.

The U.S. ends diplomatic relations with the Nationalist authorities in Taipei and officially recognizes the government of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing. But Washington and Taipei retain close ties.

The U.S. Embassy in Taipei is closed.

President Chiang Ching-kuo leads a crowd of 250,000 in a cheer of "wansui" (10,000 years) from a balcony at the Taiwanese presidential office in October 1987. (Yang / Associated Press)

Chiang’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo, who became president in Taiwan in 1978, issues an order to lift 38 years of martial law, paving the way for a transition to democracy and closer relations with China.

Chiang Ching-kuo announces that residents of Taiwan are permitted to return to the mainland to visit their families.

Delegates from China and Taiwan meet in Singapore for their first high-level talks, with both sides expressing a desire to establish regular contacts.

China begins a series of missile tests just off Taiwan, apparently designed to intimidate the island before presidential elections. Three surface-to-surface missiles land in waters close to two major Taiwanese ports during the weeklong exercise.

Incumbent Lee Teng-hui flashes a No. 1 sign outside the Nationalist Party headquarters in Taipei after becoming Taiwan's first popularly elected president.

Lee Teng-hui, who succeeded Chiang as Taiwan’s leader upon his death in 1988, wins a resounding victory in the island’s first fully democratic presidential elections. Beijing says the vote does not change Taiwan’s status as part of Chinese territory.

Chen Shui–bian and running mate Annette Lu acknowledge supporters in Taipei following the victory of their Democratic Progressive Party in presidential elections in 2000. (Thomas Cheng /AFP)

Amid infighting in the Nationalist Party, Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party wins a stunning victory in presidential elections. Chen becomes the first non-Nationalist to hold Taiwan’s presidency.

Chen begins his second presidential term, using his inaugural address to offer a new beginning in Taiwan’s long and troubled relations with mainland China.

China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, passes the Anti-Secession Law, a measure that Chinese officials say sets “a legal framework to prevent Taiwan from seceding from China and promote peaceful national reunification.”

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who also serves as secretary-general of the Communist Party, shakes hands with visiting Nationalist Party Chairman Lien Chan at the first meeting between the leaders of the two parties in 60 years.

Taiwan's newly elected president Ma Ying–jeou addresses supporters in Taipei. (Eddie Cheng / European Pressphoto Agency)

Ma Ying-jeou wins back the Taiwanese presidency for the Nationalist Party, pledging to strengthen business ties and negotiate a peace deal with China — but only if Beijing stops targeting the island. Taiwan believes China has approximately 1,000 missiles aimed at it.

The first group of 680 tourists from the Chinese mainland begin sightseeing in Taiwan.

China and Taiwan sign a landmark economic cooperation agreement, removing tariffs on hundreds of products in a bid to increase cross-strait trade.

Student protesters occupy the legislature in Taipei, Taiwan. (Wally Santana / Associated Press)

Hundreds of protesters occupy Taiwan’s legislature to protest a trade pact that they fear gives China too much economic influence. The takeover becomes known as the “Sunflower Movement.”

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, left, and China's President Xi Jinping. (Associated Press)

Officials in Taiwan and China announce that Ma will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore.