Vice President Annette Lu re-interpreted the R.O.C. history and categorized its development into four stages: the R.O.C. in the mainland, the R.O.C. retreating to Taiwan, the R.O.C. in Taiwan, and currently the R.O.C. as Taiwan.
The vice president said that the island's first popular presidential election in 1996 marked the start of the current fourth stage of the country's history. And the following transfer of political power in 2000, the first practice of referendum in 2004, and the inclusion of the referendum mechanism into the constitution have further proved that now the R.O.C. precisely is Taiwan.
The vice president's interpretation aims to counter China's syllogism that argues there is only one China, Taiwan is a province of China, and the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government of China.
The vice president presented the above interpretations while speaking at Taiwan's Tamkang Universtiy on April 12.