Taiguaye

Taiguaye (Chinese: 枱掛曄; pinyin: Táiguàyè; Filipino: Taiguaye), officially the Commonwealth of Taiguaye (Chinese: 枱掛曄聯邦; pinyin: Táiguàyè liánbāng; Filipino: Kómonwélt ng Taiguaye), is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the. It is located in the, at a tri-point between , Tseng and the Philippine island of.

In 1844, Taiguaye was ceded to the United States by the Qing as part of the Taiguaye treaty. Taiguaye was occupied by Imperial Japan from 1942 to 1945 during World War II; it was converted to a US-Republic of China condominium after the surrender of Japan. In 1979, the US took full control of Taiguaye after downgrading relations with the Republic of China and converted the territory to commonwealth status.

Taiguayans have been U.S. citizens since 1920, and can move freely between the island and the U.S. mainland. It is classified by the International Monetary Fund as a highly developed jurisdiction, with a major capitalist service economy characterized by low taxation, services and free trade. It is a major aviation, financial, and maritime shipping hub.

Etymology
It's unknown what Taiguaye means. It is possibly a word from an extinct indigenous language.

History
Taiguaye was first settled by Aboriginal peoples from Taiwan and the Philippines. In 1699, the arrived and settled Taiguaye. In 1833, Taiguaye Province was created from Fujian Province.

On September 4, 1844, Taiguaye was ceded to the United States following the American invasion of Taiguaye. Taiguaye became a U.S. treaty port.

The US occupation of Taiguaye from 1844 to 1942 was controversial. On one hand, cities like Wanlong and Kuangkang were expanded and developed, but on the other abuses and human rights violations occurred.

In 1942, Taiguaye was invaded by Japan. They continued to repress the Taiguayese people until August 5, 1945, when US rule resumed.

From 1946 to 1979, Taiguaye was jointly governed by the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the United States in a condominium known as the Taiguaye Condominium.

In 1979, due to the fallout of ROC-US relations, the condominium was dissolved and Taiguaye received commonwealth status of the US.

Government and politics
"See also: List of political parties in Taiguaye, List of Governors of Taiguaye, Municipalities in Taiguaye, Political party strength in Taiguaye"Being a commonwealth of the US, Taiguaye's government is based of the American model. All governmental powers are delegated by the United States Congress, with the head of state being president of the United States. As an unincorporated territory, Taiguaye lacks full protection under the United States Constitution.

There are three branches in Taiguaye's government: legislative, judicial, and executive. The executive is led by the governor, currently Fred Hua. The legislative branch consists of the bicameral Legislative Assembly, made up of a Senate as its upper chamber and a House of Representatives as its lower chamber; the Senate is headed by a president, currently Louise Yeung, while the House is headed by the speaker of the House, currently Gabriel Carandang. The governor and legislators are elected by popular vote every four years, with the last election held in December 2020.

Political parties
The main parties in Taiguaye are the pro-independence Taiguaye Party, the "middle-ground" Third Way Party, and the pro-American National Alliance Party.

Taiguayans can also register their membership for the Taiguayan affiliates of the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as those of most third parties.

Administrative divisions
Taiguaye is divided into 54 municipalities. Those are the county equivalents of Taiguaye. Each municipality has a mayor and a legislature, which are elected every four years. The largest municipality is Wanlong.

Culture
The culture of Taiguaye is a mix of Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino (especially Ilocano and Tagalog), American, and Japanese cultures.

Media
Mass media in Taiguaye includes television, radio, and newspapers. The vast majority in conducted in Mandarin, but some use English, Filipino, and/or Hokkien instead.

Examples of Mandarin television networks include KTBI Channel 7, Taiguaye Television, Wanlong Dianshi, and Taiguaye Public Service. There are no English television networks natively in Taiguaye, but there are channels that are affiliates of the networks in the U.S. mainland, including KKJS (affiliated with PBS), KTGY-TV (affiliated with NBC) and KEBS-TV (affiliated with CBS). There is one Filipino/Tagalog TV network: TFT TV.

Taiguyanese television dramas, also known as TGY-dramas, have gained increasing popularity in the Mandarin-speaking community internationally. TGY-dramas such as Through Failure and Tragedy, A Family's Story and Where Have All The Good Ones Gone?, all three of them produced by TBI Production Studio, have aired in multiple Asian countries to great success, and several TGY-dramas have also been exported to regions such as Latin America and the MENA region.

Music
Taiguaye is also a centre for music. The Mandopop singer Jessie Lan and the Pinoy rock band Decamillennial, who originated from Taiguaye, have become famous within Asia and/or the Chinese-speaking world, with millions of their records sold within the Sinosphere.

Karaoke is also extremely popular in Taiguaye. Most major cities offer karaoke bars.

Demographics
The current population of Taiguaye is 8,814,712, a 2.4% increase from 2010. The centre of population of Taiguaye is in Nanzhu Municipality.

Population makeup
More than half of Taiguayans are of Chinese descent. Second are Filipinos, who make up 27.5% of Taiguaye's population, followed by multiracial, Hispanic or Latino of any race, white, African-American, Indonesian, and Indian.

Languages
The official languages of Taiguaye are Mandarin and English. Although most Taiguayans are multilingual, they mainly use English to bridge gaps between their own native languages. Other languages spoken include Tagalog, Cantonese, Hokkien, Indonesian, Malay, and Ilocano.

Transportation
Cities and towns in Taiguaye are interconnected by a system of roads, freeways, expressways, and highways maintained by the Highways and Transportation Authority under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and patrolled by the Taiguaye Police Department.

Automobiles drive on the left (unlike in the mainland U.S.), because the Taiguaye road system was originally constructed with assistance from British engineers and because of the influence of left-hand traffic proponent Claude Maraniss, one of Taiguaye's first governors. Taiguaye is one of three U.S. jurisdictions that drive on the left, the other two being Trishel and the. Traffic signals are located on the opposite side of the road than they are in the U.S. mainland, and many standard road signs have been altered to fit the left-side driving. Because the three jurisdictions are exempted from the 25-year rule in force on the mainland for automobile imports, Taiguaye has proven to be a major hub for imports of used Japanese vehicles. In 2019, 55% of vehicles registered in the territory originated from Japan and other right-hand drive markets as opposed to 27% of which were left-hand drive vehicles imported from the U.S. mainland. Imported right-hand drive vehicles tend to be preferred over left-hand drive vehicles imported from the mainland, as the left-hand drive vehicles' headlights use the U.S. pattern which casts light to the right, tending to blind oncoming drivers.

Wanlong International Airport is the territory's primary airport. Over 100 airlines operate from the airport, including the territory's two flag carriers, Taiguaye Airlines and Air Wanlong, as well as low-cost airline Voyage. The airline serves as a focus city for American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue.

Utilities

 * Main articles: Energy in Taiguaye, Electricity sector in Taiguaye, and Taiguaye Aqueducts and Sewers Authority

Taiguaye generates most of its electricity locally. The vast majority of this energy comes from fossil fuels, with 40% from coal and 43% from petroleum. The rest comes from other sources, including offshore wind power.

Telecommunications
Telecommunications in Taiguaye includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Broadcasting in Taiguaye is regulated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Broadband Internet access is widely available, with Taiguaye having one of the fastest Internet connection speeds in the world.

Mail service is handled by the United States Postal Service. Taiguaye is part of the North American Numbering Plan, and Taiguaye's residents and visitors are able to call most toll-free U.S. numbers.